Author: Manal Mohammed, Senior Lecturer, Medical Microbiology, University of Westminster

Model of bacteriophages. These are viruses that multiply inside bacteria and cause their death. In some cases they are used in the fight against bacteria instead of antibiotics. shoma81/Shutterstock Bacteriophages, or phages, are viruses that infect and kill bacteria. These microscopic predators are found everywhere from soil and water to food and the human gut. […]

Piyaset/Shutterstock.com Antibiotic resistance is often associated with hospitals and the overuse of antibiotics in agriculture. Both are genuine problems, but new research suggests another potential culprit that many people haven’t considered – droughts caused by climate change. A recent study published in the journal Nature Microbiology found that when soil dries out, it can speed […]

Jason Grant/Shutterstock Police Scotland has launched an investigation into the deaths of six patients, including adults and children, believed to have contracted fatal infections at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow. The inquiry follows a long-running controversy over hospital-acquired infections at the site, with concerns raised by families and clinicians about water contamination, ventilation […]

Naegleria fowleri, the brain-eating amoeba. Kateryna Kon/Shutterstock.com Scientists are calling for urgent action on free-living amoebas – a little-known group of microbes that could pose a growing global health threat. Here’s what you need to know. Free-living amoebas are single-celled organisms that don’t need a host to live. They are found in soil and water, […]

morrowlight/Shutterstock When babies struggle with poor sleep, parents often suffer right alongside them. Growing evidence shows that a baby’s gut health plays a key role in comfort, digestion and overall sleep quality. Supporting a healthy gut microbiome may help babies sleep better, which can bring much-needed relief to exhausted parents. Newborns are not born with […]

You might think good sleep happens in your brain, but restorative sleep actually begins much lower in the body: in the gut. The community of trillions of microbes living in your digestive tract, known as the gut microbiome, plays a powerful role in regulating sleep quality, mood and overall wellbeing. When the gut microbiome is […]

Thrush is one of the most common infections in the world. It’s caused by the fungi Candida – specifically, the yeast Candida albicans. Although yeast infections are normally treated easily with antifungal drugs, a growing number of Candida species are developing resistance to these drugs – including the species that causes thrush. According to the […]

A food truck in southern Italy recently became the centre of a deadly health scare. A food-borne outbreak linked to preserved vegetables killed two people and sent more than a dozen to hospital. At the same time, the UK’s Food Standards Agency warned shoppers to avoid jars of broccoli from a specific batch code, fearing […]

From your phone to your sponge, your toothbrush to your trolley handle, invisible armies of bacteria are lurking on the everyday objects you touch the most. Most of these microbes are harmless – some even helpful – but under the right conditions, a few can make you seriously ill. But here’s the catch: some of […]