Featured
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News Feature |
What toilets can reveal about COVID, cancer and other health threats
Wastewater testing grew tremendously during the pandemic. But is it ready to tackle the opioid crisis, air pollution and antibiotic resistance?
- Betsy Ladyzhets
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News Explainer |
Bird flu outbreak in US cows: why scientists are concerned
A virus that has killed hundreds of millions of birds has now infected cattle in six US states, but the threat to humans is currently low.
- Max Kozlov
- & Smriti Mallapaty
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Nature Podcast |
Audio long read: Why are so many young people getting cancer? What the data say
Researchers are scrambling to explain why rates of multiple cancers are increasing among adults under the age of 50.
- Heidi Ledford
- & Benjamin Thompson
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Outlook |
Fungal diseases are spreading undetected
Low- and middle-income countries are grappling with widespread shortages of diagnostic tests for infections that kill millions.
- Charles Schmidt
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News Feature |
Why are so many young people getting cancer? What the data say
Clues to a modern mystery could be lurking in information collected generations ago.
- Heidi Ledford
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News |
Massive public-health experiment sends vaccination rates soaring
The rate of vaccination against COVID-19 rose sharply in villages in Sierra Leone where health officials held mobile vaccination clinics.
- Max Kozlov
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News |
Meningitis could be behind ‘mystery illness’ reports in Nigeria
The WHO confirms three meningitis deaths, which it says might have triggered rumours of an outbreak of an unknown disease.
- Sarah Wild
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Career Q&A |
‘This is my calling’: building point-of-care diagnostic tools to fight tuberculosis
Mireille Kamariza talks about her journey from community college to biotech chief executive, and the uphill battle to stop the spread of the deadly lung disease.
- Abdullahi Tsanni
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News |
Brazil’s record dengue surge: why a vaccine campaign is unlikely to stop it
A vaccine shortage and persistent sanitation problems threaten the success of the world’s first public vaccination campaign against dengue virus.
- Mariana Lenharo
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Research Highlight |
Mpox’s surge was stopped by behaviour change — before vaccine rollout
Analysis of more than 1,000 viral genomes reveals patterns in how the disease circulated through various communities.
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Article
| Open Access
Prevalence of persistent SARS-CoV-2 in a large community surveillance study
Using viral sequence data, individuals with persistent SARS-CoV-2 infections were identified, and had higher odds of self-reporting long COVID, in a large community surveillance study.
- Mahan Ghafari
- , Matthew Hall
- & Katrina Lythgoe
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Career Q&A |
A researcher-exchange programme made me a better doctor at home and abroad
Caleb Skipper describes how global health collaborations bring valuable transfers of knowledge to both sides of the Atlantic.
- Christopher Bendana
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News |
Why a cheap, effective treatment for diarrhoea is underused
Actors posing as dads of sick children reveal the hidden motives behind doctors’ and pharmacists’ prescription decisions.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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News & Views |
An early look at birth cohort genetics in China
Genetic sequencing data from more than 4,000 Chinese participants in the Born in Guangzhou Cohort Study provide insights into the population, and a snapshot of what is to come in future phases of the project.
- Nicholas John Timpson
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News |
New genetic variants found in large Chinese mother–baby study
The study is one of the first in Asia to examine links between the genomes of mothers, babies and their health.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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News & Views |
Contact-tracing app predicts risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission
The risk of catching COVID-19 as calculated by a smartphone app scales with the probability of subsequently testing positive for the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, showing that digital contact tracing is a useful tool for fighting future pandemics.
- Justus Benzler
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Article
| Open Access
Digital measurement of SARS-CoV-2 transmission risk from 7 million contacts
Digital measurements of proximity and duration of exposure by the NHS COVID-19 app show a strong relation to actual infections among 7 million contacts notified in England and Wales, with longer durations translating to increased risk of transmission.
- Luca Ferretti
- , Chris Wymant
- & Christophe Fraser
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News Feature |
Is cannabis bad for teens? Here’s what the data say
Ten years after cannabis was first legalized for casual use in adults, scientists are struggling to provide evidence-based recommendations about the risks to young people.
- Anil Oza
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News & Views |
Diabetes prevention programme put to the test
Causal evidence shows that referring people who are at risk of developing diabetes to a nationwide lifestyle-change programme can result in health improvements — but only if programme participation can be sustained.
- Edward W. Gregg
- & Naomi Holman
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News |
Giant UK programme to lower people’s blood-sugar levels really works
One of the world’s biggest campaigns to prevent diabetes through behaviour change holds promise for public-health gains.
- Heidi Ledford
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News Explainer |
Dengue is spreading. Can new vaccines and antivirals halt its rise?
Scientists warn that it will take multiple methods to stop the disease, which is also known as breakbone fever and was once confined to the tropics.
- Mariana Lenharo
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News |
Are these moths blinding children? Nepalese researchers seek answers
Researchers are carrying out environmental surveys and genomic sequencing to try to learn more about SHAPU, a severe eye condition that mainly affects children — but funding is still scarce.
- Saugat Bolakhe
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Nature Podcast |
A new hydrogel can be directly injected into muscle to help it regenerate
A soft and conductive material shows promise for muscle rehabilitation, and why starfishes have such strange body plans.
- Nick Petrić Howe
- & Shamini Bundell
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News Explainer |
Dengue is spreading in Europe: how worried should we be?
The post-COVID travel boom combined with a warm summer have led to dengue outbreaks in Italy and France.
- Miryam Naddaf
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Article
| Open Access
The burden and dynamics of hospital-acquired SARS-CoV-2 in England
Data from acute hospitals in England are used to quantify hospital-acquired SARS-CoV-2 infections, evaluate likely pathways of spread and factors associated with heightened transmission risk, and explore the impact on community transmission.
- Ben S. Cooper
- , Stephanie Evans
- & Gwenan M. Knight
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Outlook |
Mental health: The invisible effects of neglected tropical diseases
The psychological burden of disability and stigma has been overlooked, to the detriment of those affected and their carers.
- Simon Makin
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News & Views |
Learn from the past to predict viral pandemics
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need to understand the emergence of viral variants, given that these can have implications for vaccination success. A bioinformatics tool offers a way to predict viral evolution.
- Nash D. Rochman
- & Eugene V. Koonin
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Outlook |
Respiratory syncytial virus co-infections might conspire to worsen disease
Emerging evidence suggests that pathogens can pair up to work together against immune system defences.
- Katherine Bourzac
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Outlook |
Research round-up: respiratory syncytial virus
Why monitoring sewers could help to detect outbreaks, how RSV and flu viruses can couple together and other highlights.
- Liam Drew
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Outlook |
Tracking RSV in low- and middle-income countries
By surveilling respiratory syncytial virus, the World Health Organization is hoping to understand who the virus infects and the burden it has.
- Pratik Pawar
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Outlook |
Vaccines could offer fresh hope against respiratory syncytial virus
If deployed effectively and equitably, this latest generation of vaccines could help to prevent countless deaths and hospitalizations among the young and old.
- Michael Eisenstein
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Outlook |
For Indigenous infants, RSV prevention is better than a cure
Governments need to put remote communities at the forefront of strategies to prevent the respiratory disease.
- Anna Banerji
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Article
| Open Access
Causes and consequences of child growth faltering in low-resource settings
Analysis of data from 33 longitudinal cohorts from low- and middle-income countries indicates that conditions during pre-conception, pregnancy and the first few months of life are crucial in determining the risk of growth faltering in young children.
- Andrew Mertens
- , Jade Benjamin-Chung
- & Pablo Penataro Yori
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Article
| Open Access
Child wasting and concurrent stunting in low- and middle-income countries
An analysis of longitudinal cohort data across diverse populations suggests that the incidence of wasting between birth and 24 months is higher than previously thought, and highlights the role of seasonal factors that affect child growth.
- Andrew Mertens
- , Jade Benjamin-Chung
- & Pablo Penataro Yori
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Article
| Open Access
Early-childhood linear growth faltering in low- and middle-income countries
A pooled analysis of longitudinal studies in low- and middle-income countries identifies the typical age of onset of linear growth faltering and investigates recurrent faltering in early life.
- Jade Benjamin-Chung
- , Andrew Mertens
- & Pablo Penataro Yori
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Research Highlight |
Genomes reveal yellow fever’s deadly route through Brazil
New RNA sequences show the path that the virus travelled from the Amazon to the densely populated south.
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News |
COVID infection risk rises the longer you are exposed — even for vaccinated people
Rigorous evidence shows that significant contact with a person with SARS-CoV-2 is more likely to lead to transmission than a short encounter.
- Anil Oza
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Article |
A planetary health innovation for disease, food and water challenges in Africa
By harvesting aquatic vegetation that provides habitat for snails that harbour Schistosoma parasites and converting it to compost and animal feed, a trial reduced schistosomiasis prevalence in children while providing wider economic benefits.
- Jason R. Rohr
- , Alexandra Sack
- & Caitlin Wolfe
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Comment |
COVID-19 digital contact tracing worked — heed the lessons for future pandemics
For all the controversy over decentralized contact-tracing apps, data show that these privacy-preserving tools saved thousands of lives during the pandemic. National and international authorities must invest in the technology now.
- Marcel Salathé
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News |
New COVID jabs are coming — who should get them?
Countries rolling out updated vaccines weigh up whether to restrict them to high-risk individuals.
- Max Kozlov
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News Explainer |
Long COVID: answers emerge on how many people get better
Studies are shedding light on rates of recovery as well as the prevention and treatment of the complex condition.
- Michael Marshall
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News |
‘Bold’ study that gave people COVID reveals ‘supershedder’ phenomenon
A small subset of infected people spew huge amounts of virus into the air — despite having only mild symptoms.
- Saima Sidik
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News |
China’s rolling COVID waves could hit every six months — infecting millions
The latest surge is unlikely to crash the country’s health-care system, but scientists fear hundreds of millions of infections.
- Yvaine Ye
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News |
Does shingles vaccination cut dementia risk? Large study hints at a link
Analysis of nearly 300,000 people finds an association between the shingles jab and a lower rate of dementia — but questions linger.
- Sara Reardon
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Comment |
Why the world needs more transparency on the origins of novel pathogens
Collaboration and openness are essential to minimize the risks of future pandemics, says the World Health Organization’s scientific advisory group, SAGO.
- Marietjie Venter
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News |
COVID’s future: mini-waves rather than seasonal surges
Three years after the start of the pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 shows no signs of settling into a seasonal pattern of spread, like influenza has.
- Ewen Callaway
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Article |
Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 at the Huanan Seafood Market
- William J. Liu
- , Peipei Liu
- & Guizhen Wu
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Article |
Adeno-associated virus type 2 in US children with acute severe hepatitis
A retrospective analysis using PCR testing, viral enrichment-based sequencing and agnostic metagenomic sequencing finds an association between adeno-associated virus type 2 and paediatric hepatitis of unknown cause.
- Venice Servellita
- , Alicia Sotomayor Gonzalez
- & Charles Y. Chiu
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News Feature |
Indoor air is full of flu and COVID viruses. Will countries clean it up?
The current pandemic has focused attention to the importance of healthy indoor air and could spur lasting improvements to the air we breathe.
- Dyani Lewis
Monkeypox virus: dangerous strain gains ability to spread through sex, new data suggest