News 2025
02.10.2025
Tuberculosis and Migration: Protecting the Most Vulnerable
Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the world’s most dangerous infectious diseases – and it affects people on the move particularly hard. In Germany, nearly three out of four TB cases are found in people who were not born in the country. How migration, poverty, and war are shaping the spread of TB in Europe was the focus of a symposium organized by the Research Center Borstel, Leibniz Lung Center (FZB), at the 14th Congress for Tropical Medicine and International Health in Hamburg. The Symposium was chaired by Dr. Thomas Brehm and Prof. Christoph Lange (both FZB and UKE, Hamburg).
01.10.2025
Antibiotic resistance can also make bacteria more vulnerable
Antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest challenges in modern medicine. A new study now shows that Haemophilus influenzae can rapidly adapt to commonly used beta-lactam antibiotics. However, the genetic changes and their consequences are surprisingly diverse and difficult to predict. Some mutations even make the bacteria more susceptible to other drugs.
26.09.2025
Scientist from Borstel received research prize
Dr. Margo Diricks from the Research Center Borstel, Leibniz Lung Center, was awarded the BD Research Prize at this year's annual meeting of the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM) in Jena for her outstanding work in advancing diagnostic strategies for lung pathogens that are difficult to identify and treat.
16.09.2025
Drug-resistant tuberculosis: Urgent action required!
A new study with support from the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) warns of the dawn of an extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) epidemic in Europe, threatening to leave physicians without effective medicines in the treatment of tuberculosis. Conducted in the Republic of Moldova, one of the world’s highest-burden countries with drug-resistant tuberculosis, this is the first nationwide evidence in the northern hemisphere of resistance emerging against World Health Organization (WHO) Group A drugs – the cornerstone of today’s tuberculosis treatment.