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A new machine learning tool that can detect whether emerging strains of the bacterium, Salmonella are more likely to cause dangerous bloodstream infections rather than food poisoning has been developed. The tool, created by a scientist at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and her collaborators at the University of Otago, New Zealand and the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research, a site of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Germany, greatly speeds up the process for identifying the genetic changes underlying new invasive types of Salmonella that are of public health concern.

Numerous pathogens are capable of becoming resistant to medications, such as antibiotics, which allows them to protect themselves from the antibiotics and to spread vigorously. Moreover, many diseases cannot be treated sufficiently because there are no effective drugs available. The search for new drugs is very laborious and resource-consuming. Natural products, so-called secondary metabolites, that are produced by bacteria, fungi and plants are some interesting candidates in this context. Especially soil-dwelling myxobacteria produce a large variety of natural agents which they use to eliminate microbial competitors or enemies. This is the special field of natural product researcher Prof Rolf Müller. Honouring his outstanding research aimed at the discovery of microbial natural products mainly from myxobacteria, the German pharmacist has been awarded this year's Inhoffen Award, to be presented on 17 May. Müller directs the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), a branch site of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and the Saarland University.

In autumn 2017, Nigeria suspected an outbreak of human monkey pox. Immediately, epidemiologists adapted their online disease surveillance system and travelled to Nigeria to support the locals. The 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa revealed an urgent need of efficient disease surveillance systems, because it became evident that the outcome of an epidemic also depends on how fast disease control measures are implemented. HZI scientists from the Department of Epidemiology, led by Gérard Krause, teamed up with Nigerian scientists and developed a mobile-based application, which allows real-time data collection and application of disease control measures called Surveillance, Outbreak Response Management and Analysis System (SORMAS).

Antibiotics are still overprescribed in primary care and prescriptions are often not in line with the recommendations and guidelines set out by the medical associations. For this reason, the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and the Hygienenetzwerk Südostniedersachsen, the City of Braunschweig, the Klinikum Braunschweig, and the AOK Niedersachsen have developed a project called "Effectiveness of training on antibiotic prescription routine for General Practitioners (GP)" (Wirksamkeit von Antibiotikaschulungen in der niedergelassenen Ärzteschaft, WASA) that is funded by the Federal Ministry of Health (Bundesministerium für Gesundheit, BMG).

Fungi are considered a natural source of antimicrobials in drug discovery. So far, little research has been done on the fungal diversity of tropical regions which promises novel compounds with antibiotic activity. An international research group led by Prof Marc Stadler from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) has discovered novel metabolites that displayed antimicrobial and nematicidal responses. These substances are produced by a previously unknown type of fungus, which the team discovered during their study in the rainforest of Thailand. Results of their study were published in the scientific journal MycoKeys.