Infectious diseases are one of the main causes of illness and mortality in the world. Pneumococcal infection, tuberculosis, acute respiratory infections like pneumonia, as well as infections associated with childbirth all lead to high mortality, not least in children and the new-born. HIV, malaria, diarrhoea are other examples of severe infections, as well as different kinds of influenza epidemics that are often spread to several parts of the world.
Parallel to this, increased antibiotic resistance among pathogenic bacteria, and the spread of these bacteria among humans and animals is a major global health challenge. Efficient antibiotic treatment is crucial in all kinds of procedures that increase the risk of infection, such as cancer treatment, transplantations and surgical procedures. This means that antibiotic resistance is a threat to modern health care, and it is also a significant burden from a socio-economic perspective.
The area of Infection and Antibiotics includes both basic and clinical research in areas such as immunology, microbiology and health care and public health research. Examples of important research topics are studies on molecular mechanisms in bacterial infection, development of new antibacterial agents and efficient new diagnostics methods, mechanisms for resistance development, healthcare-associated infections, vaccines and other infection prevention and control measures, how antibiotics are processed within humans and animals, health economics and the effects of antibiotics on the environment.
If your research project is relevant for the area as defined above, your project may be awarded special funds. As the relevance assessment is made based on the research plan in the application, it is important that you describe in the research programme the way in which the research is relevant to the area.
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