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By Michael Le Page, Clare Wilson, Jessica Hamzelou, Sam Wong, Graham Lawton, Adam Vaughan, Conrad Quilty-Harper, Jason Arunn Murugesu, Layal Liverpool, Carissa Wong, Alex Wilkins and Alexandra Thompson Students queuing up for covid-19 nucleic acid tests, Qingdao, Shandong province, China Wei Zhe/VCG via Getty Images Latest coronavirus news as of 12pm 9 March Covid deaths … Read more
By Michael Le Page, Clare Wilson, Jessica Hamzelou, Sam Wong, Graham Lawton, Adam Vaughan, Conrad Quilty-Harper, Jason Arunn Murugesu and Layal Liverpool Pedestrians walk across London Bridge, London, England, 21 January 2022 ANDY RAIN/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Latest coronavirus news as of 12pm on 26 January Around 1 in 23 people in England were infected with the omicron … Read more
Antibiotic resistance is often seen as a ‘future problem’, but newly published data have revealed it’s affecting far, far more lives than you might imagine. In fact, the new estimates show that in 2019, there were 4.95 million deaths associated with bacterial antimicrobial resistance, making it the third leading cause of death worldwide. Drugs … Read more
For people fighting repeat infections of the diarrhea-causing bacterium Clostridium difficile, fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) offers a proven—if unappetizing—solution. Stool from a healthy donor, usually delivered via colonoscopy, can help restore a balanced community of gut microbes to vanquish the potentially deadly infection. Several companies are eager to achieve the same effect with less invasive, more … Read more
Bacteria-killing viruses can be used to treat antibiotic-resistant superbugs, and the approach has been tried in more than 100 people in Belgium since a 2019 change in regulations Health 18 January 2022 By Michael Le Page Illustration of bacteriophage viruses attacking a bacterium iLexx/Getty Images The use of bacteria-killing viruses known as phages to treat … Read more
A 2,700-year-old drop toilet, found at an ancient royal estate in southern Jerusalem, still shows traces of what could have been an epidemic of parasitic infection long ago. The findings suggest even the wealthiest inhabitants of ancient Jerusalem, elite enough to use an outhouse, commonly suffered from intestinal worms. While latrines and toilets are … Read more
It has been less than four weeks since the announcement that a mutation-laden coronavirus variant had been discovered in southern Africa. Since then, dozens of countries around the world have reported Omicron cases—including a worrying number of infections in people who have either been vaccinated or experienced previous SARS-CoV-2 infections. But as political leaders and public-health officials try to … Read more
Copper is well known for being able to kill off bacteria that it comes into contact with – the metal releases ions that are toxic to bacterial cells, punching through their outer membranes. However, this process usually takes several hours. A newly developed copper surface does the job in just a couple of minutes, … Read more
Many people all over the world have now had one infection with covid-19 – how does that affect their future chance of a second round with the coronavirus? Health 8 December 2021 By Clare Wilson A healthcare worker does tests that detect antibodies to the coronavirus Peter Kovalev/TASS via Getty Images For the past year, … Read more