Infectious diseases are responsible for significant morbidity and mortality around the world. Recently, we have lived through the COVID-19 pandemic and, for a period, witnessed the consequences of an emergent pathogen for which we had no effective treatments. This served as a stark reminder of the devastating impacts an unchecked infectious disease can have when we have no means of biological or chemical control. In the era of climate change and antimicrobial resistance, which are driving the emergence and re-emergence of pathogens, the ability to develop effective antimicrobial therapies has never been more important.
Our current arsenal of antimicrobial therapeutics is dwindling as resistance continues to emerge and spread amongst pathogens. Of course, this is not a new concept, and it is well known that the pace of development of new and novel antimicrobial therapeutics has been too slow in recent decades. Nonetheless, technological advances have been made, and the COVID-19 pandemic illustrated how rapidly the scientific community can mobilise and collaborate to solve an emerging threat. However, there are a wide range of infectious diseases that affect millions of people daily that continue to develop resistance to our limited range of antimicrobials, and we require urgent action and innovation to overcome the threat to life these pathogens pose.
This Article Collection aims to collect and disseminate new and timely research which is focused on the development of new and/or novel antimicrobial therapies and diagnostics. We are keen to feature research from across the diverse spectrum of those seeking to overcome infectious disease and we encourage the submission of original research articles, data notes and reviews which advance our knowledge on this important topic.
We encourage submissions on topics including the following:
- Rapid methods for diagnosing antimicrobial resistant infections
- Natural products against infectious diseases
- Bacteriophage therapy
- Vaccines and vaccine development
- Antimicrobial drug discovery
- Optimisation of antimicrobial therapy
- One Health approach for reducing antimicrobial resistant infections
- Antifungal agents
- Antiviral agents
- Alternatives to antibiotics
- Epidemiology of antimicrobial resistant infections
All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo desk assessment and peer-review as part of our standard editorial process. Guest Advisors will not be involved in peer-reviewing manuscripts unless they are an existing member of the Editorial Board.
Please review the journal scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript.
The deadline for submitting manuscripts is 30 September 2023.
Please contact Millie Powell at [email protected] with any queries regarding this Article Collection.
Article Collection Guest Advisor(s)
Dr Clare Taylor is a Senior Lecturer in Medical Microbiology in the School of Applied Sciences at Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland. Research in microbiology has focussed on understanding aspects of pathogenicity and routes of transmission for bacteria such as Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella enterica, to develop novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies to help reduce antimicrobial resistance.
Dr Emmanuel Adukwu is the Deputy Head, School of Applied Sciences at the University of the West of England, Bristol, United Kingdom. His research focuses on understanding the role of antimicrobial compounds in reducing and eliminating pathogenic bacteria and developing strategies to reduce infections and manage antimicrobial resistance in health and community settings.
Disclosure statement: Dr Clare Taylor and Dr Emmanuel Adukwu declare no conflict of interest.
