Category Archives: Emerging Diseases

Microbe Talk: November 2016

Posted on November 30, 2016 by MicrobiologySociety

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 MicrobiologySociety

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 MicrobiologySociety

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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On the Horizon: Hantaviruses

Posted on October 18, 2016 by MicrobiologySociety

In early 2013, a man in North Wales was rushed to hospital showing symptoms of serious kidney problems. The source of his infection? His pet rats. Tests revealed that the causative agent was a rodent virus known as Seoul virus. … Continue reading →

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On the Horizon: Nipah virus

Posted on August 23, 2016 by MicrobiologySociety

Our past two articles in the On the Horizon series have focused on diseases that were first identified decades ago. In this edition of the series, we’ll be looking at a virus that was only discovered at the very end … Continue reading →

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On the Horizon: Xylella fastidiosa

Posted on July 26, 2016 by MicrobiologySociety

It’s not just humans and animals that are affected by emerging diseases. In this latest addition to the On the Horizon series, we learn about a poorly understood bacterium that causes significant hardships to farmers across the world. The Apulia … Continue reading →

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On the Horizon: The spread of Lassa fever

Posted on July 21, 2016 by MicrobiologySociety

On the Horizon is the Society’s blog series on emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. For this article, we spoke to Dr Lina Moses from Tulane University in New Orleans about Lassa fever, a viral infection spreading across parts of West … Continue reading →

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On the Horizon: an introduction

Posted on July 12, 2016 by MicrobiologySociety

Over the next few weeks and months, we’ll be publishing a collection of articles about emerging diseases in our On the Horizon series. In this first post, we spoke to David Heymann, Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the London … Continue reading →

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Microbe Talk: May 2016

Posted on May 26, 2016 by MicrobiologySociety

Meet Wolbachia – the bacteria that could rid the world of dengue Dengue is one of the world’s most devastating infectious diseases. Around half of the entire planet’s population is at risk from dengue infection, which can lead to excruciating joint pain, haemorrhaging … Continue reading →

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An emerging fungal disease is killing snakes in the US

Posted on April 26, 2016 by MicrobiologySociety

Ophidiomyces ophidiicola is an emerging pathogen that causes snake fungal disease, a potentially fatal infection spreading rapidly across North America. We spoke to microbiologist Dr Jeffrey Lorch about his recent work to identify the fungus causing the disease. For the … Continue reading →

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