Clock

Time of day influences our susceptibility to infection, study finds

15 August 2016

We are more susceptible to infection at certain times of the day as our body clock affects the ability of viruses to replicate and spread between cells, suggests new research from the University of Cambridge. The findings, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may help explain why shift workers, whose body clocks are routinely disrupted, are more prone to health problems, including infections and chronic disease.

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Resting soldiers

Too exhausted to fight – and to do harm

29 June 2015

An ‘exhausted’ army of immune cells may not be able to fight off infection, but if its soldiers fight too hard they risk damaging the very body they are meant to be protecting, suggests new research from the University of Cambridge.

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Sleeping sickness by stealth

04 February 2013

New research is helping to unveil how the parasite that causes sleeping sickness uses stealth tactics to escape detection by the human immune system.

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Original sin and the risk of epidemics

10 October 2012

Mathematicians are helping to build a better picture of how populations develop immunity to flu and which groups are most at risk of getting – and transmitting – infection each year.

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