Category Archives: Epidemiology

Why won’t TB go away?

Posted on October 16, 2018 by

This September, the United Nations convened a high-level meeting aimed at addressing the global tuberculosis (TB) epidemic. Delegates heard from heads of state and political leaders, but one of the most powerful speakers was Nandita Venkatesan. Shortly after graduating from … Continue reading →

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What is Herd Immunity?

Posted on February 3, 2017 by

When you think of a herd, you probably think of cows, wildebeest or buffalo. In the animal world, there is safety in numbers – more pairs of eyes to look out for predators, for example. As humans, we don’t generally have … Continue reading →

Posted in Clinical and Medical Microbiology, Epidemiology, Video | Tagged , | 2 Comments

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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Testing the waters: Legionnaires’ disease and the Olympics

Posted on September 13, 2016 by

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be exploring the molecular methods that enable scientists to investigate disease outbreaks, often in real time. This week, research from the Journal of Medical Microbiology on dealing with outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease. Water was a big topic of conversation at the Olympics … Continue reading →

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Microbe Talk Extra: ProMED – An early warning system for emerging diseases

Posted on March 18, 2016 by

In the modern world, the spread of diseases like MERS, SARS, avian flu, Ebola, and Zika virus seems almost unavoidable. But to stop outbreaks spiralling out of control into global disasters, researchers, doctors and public health professionals need to know … Continue reading →

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Could European mosquitoes transmit Zika virus?

Posted on March 7, 2016 by

The ongoing Zika virus outbreak in the Americas has now had confirmed cases in the UK and other parts of Europe. The disease appears to be linked to an increase in babies born with microcephaly as well as a serious … Continue reading →

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What is Zika virus?

Posted on January 13, 2016 by

In the past few weeks, there have been a number of reports about the rise of Zika virus, another member of the family that includes yellow fever virus, dengue virus and West Nile virus. But what is Zika virus? How is … Continue reading →

Posted in Clinical and Medical Microbiology, Emerging Diseases, Epidemiology, Virology | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

World Leprosy Day 2015

Posted on January 26, 2015 by

Leprosy is among the oldest human-specific infections we currently know about. The common ancestor of the two modern bacterial species that cause leprosy, Mycobacterium leprae and M. lepromatosis, is thought to have become a parasite in early humans millions of … Continue reading →

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Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever: A Phantom Menace

Posted on January 21, 2015 by

Viral haemorrhagic fevers are a poorly understood group of diseases, but they have entered the public consciousness in unprecedented fashion due to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The viruses that cause these diseases are transmitted by a range of vectors that … Continue reading →

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To the batcave! Scientists hunting white-nose syndrome clues discover new bacteria

Posted on January 15, 2015 by

Researchers from the Czech Republic recently had a lucky break when they discovered not one but two new species of bacteria in bats that were emerging from hibernation in the Jeseníky Mountains in the north of the country. The discoveries … Continue reading →

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