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