Sasha Petrova, The Conversation and Nicola McCaskill, The Conversation
Researchers have found a promising way of kicking the AIDS virus out of its hiding place in infected cells, potentially removing the main obstacle to curing HIV.
There’s no doubt chronic alcohol abuse changes the body’s infection-defence system. But here’s what the research says on whether a binge-drinking weekend can make people more susceptible to illness.
Antibiotics can prevent serious harm and stop infections becoming fatal. But they won’t kill common cold and flu viruses, and careless overprescribing by doctors can do more harm than good.
We monitor mosquitoes to help predict and control virus outbreaks. And a new technique for collecting mosquito saliva from the field has made the process both more sensitive and inexpensive.
In the first episode of BBC historical drama Wolf Hall, based on Hilary Mantel’s novel of the same name, Thomas Cromwell returns home to find his wife and two daughters have all died during the night…
The world has been keeping a very close eye on the Ebola virus for nearly a year now following the extraordinarily large outbreak seen in Western Africa, which has so far killed more than 8,000 people…
Ebola virus disease was first discovered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1976, and by 2013 had caused about 20 recorded outbreaks across East and Central Africa. These had been restricted to…
The latest report from Public Health England revealed that there were more than 100,000 people living with HIV in the UK, with 6,000 new infections last year. Around a quarter of people are unaware they…
When it comes to the spread of infectious diseases, not all infected persons are equal. Some individuals seem to have a greater ability to spread infections than others. Indeed it is believed that around…
A man in India has been quarantined after his semen sample tested positive for Ebola. This man had been in Liberia, was infected with Ebola, got horribly sick and survived. He had the same Ebola-free documentation…
HIV is one of the deadliest viruses encountered by humans in recent history and will kill 1.5m people this year alone, compare this to Ebola, for example, which has killed less than 5,000 so far, and you…
Luc Henry, EPFL – École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne
Bacterial infections remain a major threat to human and animal health. Worse still, the catalogue of useful antibiotics is shrinking as pathogens build up resistance to these drugs. There are few promising…
The World Health Organisation has declared Nigeria to be free of the Ebola virus, after six weeks with no new cases being detected. Speaking from the capital, Abuja, WHO representative Rui Gama Vaz told…
The Ebola epidemic in West Africa is the worst in recorded history. There have been in excess of 7,400 cases and 3,439 deaths, primarily in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. More recently, the spread of…
The Spanish nurse who contracted Ebola virus while caring for a dying priest appears to be the victim of the first transmission in this outbreak to have taken place outside of Africa. Along with the traveller…
Director, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, The University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital and Consultant Physician, Department of Infectious Diseases, Alfred Hospital and Monash University, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity