Viral and Bacterial Infections

Although mortality from infectious disease has declined globally, viral and bacterial infections still have a disproportionate impact on the world's poorest populations, particularly children: pneumonia and diarrhoea are leading causes of infant death in low-income countries. Moreover, hundreds of millions of patients acquire infections in hospitals, particularly in developed countries. A large percentage of these infections are caused by multiresistant bacteria and the prevalence of these pathogens has risen alarmingly due to the misuse and abuse of antibiotics in health care and agriculture. Since multiresistant bacteria are found in all regions of the world and spread easily, they are deemed to be one of the most serious threats to global health.

In ISGlobal, we use our experience in this area to improve the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases, to improve our understanding of the causes of antibiotic resistance, and to find novel ways of combating resistant pathogens.

Main Lines of Research

Design of new rapid diagnostic tools for infectious diseases
Molecular basis of antimicrobial resistance
Relationship between virulence and antimicrobial resistance
Discovery and assessment of new antibacterial drugs
Surveillance, phylogeny and clinical impact of influenza viruses and emerging viruses
Search for diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of viral and bacterial infections
Pathogenesis and antimicrobial resistance of microorganisms that cause neonatal sepsis
Epidemiology and clinical presentation of viral and bacterial infections
Treatment of yaws in Papua New Guinea

Coordinator

Jordi Vila Director of the Antimicrobial Resistance Initiative and head of the Viral and Bacterial Infections Programme

ISGlobal Team

Miriam José Álvarez Associated Researcher
Cynthia Abarrategui Project Manager
Yuly López Postdoctoral Fellow
Clara Ballesté Coordinator of Antibiotic Resistance Inititative and Jordi Vila Project Assistant
Quique Bassat ICREA Research Professor
Climent Casals-Pascual Associate Research Professor
Virginio Cepas Predoctoral Fellow
Julián González Martín
Francesc David Marco Associated Researcher
Mª Angeles Marcos Maeso
Marta Marí Predoctoral Fellow
Miguel J. Martínez Associated Researcher
Oriol Mitjà Assistant Research Professor
Javi Moreno Tècnic
Laura Muñoz
Carlos Ratia Predoctoral Fellow
Ignasi Roca Assistant Research Professor
Sara Soto Associate Research Professor