News • In 2020
COVID-19 restrictions linked to 750,000 fewer dengue cases
COVID-19 measures such as school closures and ‘high-traffic and mixing’ areas had the strongest association, providing clues for new intervention approaches.
Infections
News • Bacterial protection strategy
Protective 'chain mail' of C.difficile revealed
A newly discovered structure of chain-mail may explain the success of C.difficile at defending itself against antibiotics and immune system molecules.
News • Adaptable for screening
An optical methodology for rapid detection of COVID-19
The tool has made it possible to detect SARS-CoV-2 in exudate from symptomatic patients with a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 87.5%
News • New bone implants
Superhero substance used to combat infection
A new kind of bone implant reduces the chance of infection, and therefore significantly decreases implant failure rates.
News • Prevention through infection
Vaccine against liver cancer and fibrosis shows promise
A new study offers hope against liver cancer: A vaccine proved to be safe and effective protection in premalignant and malignant liver diseases in preclinical mouse models.
News • Public transport
Down the tube: Is the Underground 'Covid safe'?
Is the Underground a safe means of transport in times of Covid-19? A computer simulation, developed at the University of Leeds, has calculated the infection risk.
News • Alternative to injection
Inhaled vaccine delivers broad protection against SARS-CoV-2
Scientists have confirmed that an inhaled form of COVID vaccine can provide broad, long-lasting protection against the original strain of SARS-CoV-2 and variants of concern.
News • COVID and E. coli
Futuristic coating for fabrics kills viruses
Researchers have developed an inexpensive, non-toxic coating for almost any fabric that decreases the infectivity of the virus that causes COVID-19 by up to 90 per cent.
Sponsored • Orthopaedics
Periprosthetic joint infection: a complex issue
Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) can be an enormous challenge for orthopaedists and trauma surgeons. Antibiotic-loaded bone cement is an important element in a prevention strategy.
News • Cutting-edge study
Stay sharp, surgeons — your patients depend on it
Researchers from Auckland have uncovered a link between the sharpness of surgical tools such as scalpels and the risk of post-surgery infection.
News • Multiple sclerosis
Epstein-Barr virus may be leading cause of MS
A connection between the Epstein-Barr virus and multiple sclerosis has long been suspected. A new study provides ‘compelling evidence of causality’.
News • Potential game-changer
Telling Covid-19 apart from influenza
Researchers have developed a diagnostic for Sars-CoV-2 that is capable of differentiating between Covid-19 and the garden-variety bug with fast turnaround.
News • Before clinical use of antibiotics
Superbug MRSA arose in hedgehogs
A type of the antibiotic resistant superbug MRSA arose in nature long before the use of antibiotics in humans and livestock, which has traditionally been blamed for its emergence.
News • Research
Quantum sensor to detect SARS-CoV-2 faster
Scientists at have designed a quantum sensor to detect SARS-CoV-2 faster, cheaper, and more accurate than the current gold-standard technique, PCR.
News • Coronavirus research
Why Omicron may be more evasive, but less severe
The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 may be significantly better at evading vaccine-induced antibodies – but preliminary evidence suggests it is less likely to cause severe illness in the lungs.
Sponsored • Mass spectrometry
Shedding light on the mysteries of rare microbial infections with MALDI-TOF MS
The Zybio EXS2600 mass spectrometry system enables rapid microbial identification, including bacteria and fungi. With an advanced pre-filled sample kit, user-friendly software and a comprehensive strain database, the EXS2600 offers high-throughput screening, convenient operation and accurate results.
News • COVID-19
Chewing gum could reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission
In experiments using saliva samples from COVID-19 patients, the gum, which contains the ACE2 protein, neutralized the virus.
News • mhealth
'Surgery selfies' could spot serious infections early
Smartphone pictures of post-surgical wounds taken by patients and then assessed by clinicians can help with the early identification of infections, a study has found.
Sponsored • Listen to the experts
Patient Safety in Endoscopy – The Podcast
Increasing collaboration between health care providers and the medical industry is proven to be beneficial as it continues to pave the way for innovative technologies. By bringing expert opinions to the table, we can explore patient safety and infection prevention, discussing what can further be done to improve the endoscopic field. Sparked your interest?
News • Team sports research
Coronavirus and soccer: study investigates transmission risk
A study by the Universities of Basel and Saarland shows that there is almost no risk of transmission of the Covid-19 virus on the field. They suggest that blanket quarantine measures for opposing teams are not justified if no close contact has taken place off the playing field. Governments have introduced various measures over the past 18 months in an effort to curb transmission of the Covid-19…
News • Global guidelines
Urgent changes needed to stop surgical infection
Wound infections are the most common problem after surgery, but promised innovations to tackle the issue do not work and global guidance needs changing.
News • Covid-19 & influenza
Will there be a twindemic?
“Twindemic” is a term that has not yet been in the headlines but is likely to become part of our lexicon as the summer progresses.
News • Genomic tracking
Retracing the Covid-19 pandemic in England
The Covid-19 crisis that gripped England between September 2020 and June 2021 can be thought of as a series of overlapping epidemics, rather than a single event, say researchers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, EMBL's European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) and the German Cancer Research Center.
News • Fighting antibacterial resistance
Continued COVID levels of hygiene could transform infection control
Making recommendations for change, academics analyzed global data into the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in urban areas—the rise of which is threatening the lifesaving role of the medications.
News • Immune response study
Is a "natural" Covid-19 infection better than vaccination? It's complicated
Hope for a future without fear of Covid-19 comes down to circulating antibodies and memory B cells. Unlike circulating antibodies, which peak soon after vaccination or infection only to fade a few months later, memory B cells can stick around to prevent severe disease for decades. And they evolve over time, learning to produce successively more potent “memory antibodies” that are better at…
