Drug discovery research in Africa receives modest but essential international funding through philanthropic foundations and selected pharmaceutical companies.
Child receiving the polio vaccine.
Asianet-Pakistan/Shutterstock
Saskatchewan leads the country in preventable, opportunistic illnesses enabled by poverty. With recent changes to income support programs and increased housing instability, things are getting worse.
Molecular research like that conducted at the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases in Nigeria is key to medical breakthroughs.
PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP via Getty Images
Molecular research is expensive, but worth it because of the burden of disease that it could relieve.
Electron micrograph of monkeypox virus particles isolated in 2003 in the United States from human samples (left, mature, oval viruses; right, immature, round viruses).
Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regner / CDC / AP
This is not the first time that the monkeypox virus has spread beyond Africa, its continent of origin. But the current epidemic is unprecedented for a number of reasons.
Magnified and colourized monkeypox virus particles. Since early May, over 550 confirmed cases of human infection with monkeypox virus have been reported in 30 countries.
(NIAID)
Recent outbreaks have drawn attention to monkeypox. Get answers to common questions about this relative of the smallpox virus, including transmission, symptoms and effectiveness of smallpox vaccine.
Can you use a test intended for adults or older children? How do you test a wriggling or grumpy small child anyway? We’re infection control and child health researchers. Here are our tips.
The strain of H5N1 bird flu identified in Canada, the United States and Europe can cause severe disease and high mortality in domestic poultry.
(AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Avian influenza virus — or bird flu — can infect domestic poultry such as chickens and turkeys, as well as wild birds. The H5N1 strain has been identified in Canada.
There are some concerns of human-to-human transmission.
Researchers can test blood samples taken for other reasons to see if patients have previously had COVID-19.
Don Bartletti/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Your blood can hold a record of past illnesses. That information can reveal how many people have had a certain infection – like 58% of Americans having had COVID-19 by the end of February 2022.
It is critical that the affected communities have access to safe drinking water.
Phill Magakoe /AFP via Getty Images
Juno Thomas, National Institute for Communicable Diseases and Linda Erasmus, National Institute for Communicable Diseases
The displacement of people and overcrowding that often results from flooding provide optimal conditions for outbreaks of respiratory and gastrointestinal illness.
Bird flu is highly contagious in domestic flocks, and a major outbreak is underway in the US. A veterinary scientist explains what consumers need to know.
Bees feeding in monoculture fields of single crops such as sunflowers crowd together and pass parasites to one another at high rates.
Lauren Ponisio/University of Oregon
Huge single-crop fields attract bees in such numbers that they spread parasites to one another. Planting diverse mixes of flowers around fields helps spread out pollinators and keep them healthy.
Classical antibiotics that directly kill pathogens are prone to elicit drug-resistance. Targeting host enzymes required for pathogen survival offers can limit the emergence of resistance.
Honorary Professor Faculty of Health and Medical Science, Univeristy of Sydney; Senior Researcher Sydney Institue for Infectious Disease, University of Sydney., University of Sydney