Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC)

A team from France has studied the intestinal microbiota of elite athletes with high aerobic capacity (footballers and cyclists). The data indicates that they have less bacterial diversity and that the transplantation of faeces from athletes to mice improves metabolic parameters such as insulin sensitivity and glycogen deposits in the muscles. The results are published in the journal Cell Reports.

From 1 January to 23 February 2025, more than half as many cases of measles had already been reported in Spain as in the previous year. To analyse the causes of this spike, assess the seriousness of the situation and the measures to be taken, the Science Media Centre Spain organised a briefing with Noemí López Perea, researcher at the National Epidemiology Centre (CNE-ISCIII), Fernando Moraga-Llop, paediatrician, spokesperson and senior member of the Spanish Vaccinology Association (AEV), and María del Mar Tomás, spokesperson of the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC).

‘Bacterial signatures’ from genital areas could serve as a forensic tool to identify perpetrators of sexual assault, even if there is no trace of sperm, according to a study published in the journal iScience, by the Cell group. After sequencing the DNA of bacteria from genital samples from 12 stable couples, the authors show that a transfer of bacterial species occurs during intercourse, allowing the identification of each person’s own genital microbiome or ‘sexome’.

Research in mice shows that the gut microbiota of pregnant mice influences the development of stem cells in their offspring. Changes in the bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila in the maternal microbiota alter the proliferation of intestinal and neural cells in the offspring, according to the study published in Cell Stem Cell.

With the increase in cases of mpox, the European Union's Health Security Committee met on Monday. According to the Ministry of Health, the meeting concluded ‘with recommendations very similar to those previously issued by the WHO and the ECDC’. The risk of the likelihood of mpox spreading to the general EU population is currently considered to be ‘low’, although it increases in populations with close contact with diagnosed cases and in particularly vulnerable people. Further imported cases in the EU are not excluded and vaccination of the general population is not recommended. In addition, the HSC does not recommend border control.  
 

The establishment of the baby's microbiota occurs around the time of birth, when it receives bacteria directly from the mother. A study in the journal Cell suggests that genes can also be transmitted between them by horizontal transfer, without the need for the passage of these micro-organisms.

Today the World Health Organisation declared smallpox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The move was announced at a press conference by its director general, Tedros Adhanom, despite a lack of consensus in the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee.

The first study of UK cases of the current monkeypox outbreak finds differences between the symptoms of these patients and those of previous outbreaks in other parts of the world. The work is published in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases.