Infectious disease
The risk of plague reaching and spreading across the UK is very low, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has said, after reports concerning a Russian laboratory worker. The worker was employed at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East in Irkutsk. Russia’s consumer welfare service said the “sanitary-epidemiological situation” in [...]
Grindr is acquiring health startup Freddie for US$250m in its first major acquisition, expanding into HIV-prevention telehealth and pharmacy services. The dating app plans to integrate Freddie’s services into Grindr Health, which brings its healthcare offerings together through an in-app portal. Freddie provides telehealth access to HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), medication taken before exposure to [...]
A trial of a potential world-first approved C. diff vaccine is expanding across the UK, aiming to recruit more people aged over 65. Clostridioides difficile, or C. diff, is a bacterial infection of the bowel that can cause severe diarrhoea and dehydration. The vaccine is in the final stage of testing and is being studied [...]
AseptiFlow has secured a commercial partner as the NHS-developed device moves towards wider deployment in healthcare settings worldwide. The device, invented and developed by Dr James Soothill, consultant microbiologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust (GOSH), has been licensed to Mueller Europe Ltd for commercial manufacture and adoption across hospitals, care [...]
A new global initiative will see labs across the world harness wastewater as an early warning system for public health protection. Global Wastewater Day will bring together scientists, governments, water utilities and public health organisations to use wastewater as an early warning system for future pandemics. The initiative will coordinate sampling on 31 March 2027, [...]
An HIV charity has warned users that sensitive health information may have been stolen in a data breach linked to a wider cyber security incident. George House Trust told users that hackers had downloaded material held on a database, but that it had not been published. The Manchester-based charity said the affected database contained personal [...]
A shingles vaccine was linked to lower risks of heart attack, heart failure and stroke in older adults, a US study of 70,000 people suggests. People who received Shingrix had a 12 per cent lower risk of a cardiovascular event during the first three and a half years after vaccination. By the end of the [...]
A new malaria compound could simplify prevention and treatment by allowing patients to receive therapy in a single dose, early trial results suggest. The compound, called cabamiquine, was tested alongside the existing antimalarial drug pyronaridine in adults and teenagers. Researchers said the combination was effective and had a favourable safety profile, supporting further testing in [...]
England is close to eliminating hepatitis C after passing a key WHO treatment benchmark, NHS England has said. Global health leaders have set out plans to eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030, while England has already surpassed the World Health Organization benchmark of treating 80 per cent of known cases. NHS England said the country is [...]
AI has been used to design new viruses that can replicate in the lab, in what researchers say is the first successful AI design of complete genomes. It is the first time whole genomes have been successfully designed using artificial intelligence. The 16 new viruses were created to infect bacteria and were reported to pose [...]
