Category Archives: Emerging Diseases

Investigating Lyme disease on the South Downs

Posted on April 6, 2017 by

The South Downs National Park is an area that stretches for 140 km along the South Coast of England, and is home to a huge diversity of plants and animals. Some of the smaller inhabitants of the park are ticks: … Continue reading →

Posted in Animal Microbiology, Clinical and Medical Microbiology, Emerging Diseases | Tagged | 2 Comments

On the Horizon: What is Oropouche virus?

Posted on January 23, 2017 by

In this edition of our On the Horizon series, we take a look at an obscure virus that may cause an important emerging disease in 2017, or may remain in obscurity for much of the world. That is, except for … Continue reading →

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On the Horizon: Monkeypox

Posted on January 4, 2017 by

On 8 May 1980, after a global vaccination campaign, the WHO declared that smallpox had been eradicated. Wiping out this viral disease, which has claimed the lives of hundreds of millions of people throughout history, should be considered one of … Continue reading →

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Let’s Play – Plague Inc: Evolved (with a scientist)

Posted on December 2, 2016 by

Plague Inc: Evolved is a video game where players try to evolve a pathogen that can infect and kill the whole of humanity. While this is obviously not our aim here at the Society, the game does provide an interesting angle for looking … Continue reading →

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Microbe Talk: November 2016

Posted on November 30, 2016 by

When pathogenic viruses pass from their animal reservoir into humans – known as ‘spillover events’ – the consequences can be severe. For example, it is thought that the West African Ebola outbreak began with an 18-month-old child in Guinea contracting … Continue reading →

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On the Horizon: Rift Valley fever

Posted on November 15, 2016 by

In 1930, a new disease was reported in sheep on a farm near the town of Naivasha, in the central Rift Valley region of Kenya. This disease caused mass spontaneous abortions among pregnant ewes and the death of newborn lambs. … Continue reading →

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Microbe Talk: October 2016

Posted on October 28, 2016 by

The National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) building in Boston is a high-tech facility for the study of emerging, and re-emerging, microbial diseases of humans and animals. The building, part of Boston University, is equipped up to Biosafety level 4 … Continue reading →

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