The Lancet Microbe in conversation with

In this episode, we discuss the Series on Rheumatic Heart Disease published jointly by The Lancet Microbe and The Lancet Regional Health – Americas. We cover why this Series matters to the scientific community, how neglected the disease remains, its incidence across the Americas, and how it's managed in the populations most affected. We also examine the clinical and microbiological challenges in diagnosis, and what's next for vaccine development and treatment.

Click here to read the full articles in the series: 

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanam/article/PIIS2667-193X(26)00194-8/fulltext

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(26)00154-0/fulltext

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanam/article/PIIS2667-193X(26)00196-1/fulltext

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanam/article/PIIS2667-193X(26)00195-X/fulltext

And comment 

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(26)00150-3/fulltext

Phoebe Ashley-Norman talks with Luria Leslie Founou about neonatal sepsis in Cameroon and sub-Saharan Africa more broadly, in conversation around the Lancet Microbe Personal View "Neonatal sepsis in Africa: what are we missing"

Read the Personal View here:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(26)00029-7/fulltext

Dr Founou is a microbiologist and researcher with a focus on antimicrobial resistance and infectious diseases. She is also Founder and CEO of D2Africa (Dare to Dream for Africa), which can be found on YouTube at Dare to Dream for Africa - YouTube. D2Africa Stories is her podcast, where she shares the stories of inspiring African scientists and change-makers, available here D2AFRICA Stories - YouTube.  

In this episode, we discuss antimicrobial resistance (AMR) priorities, as outlined in the UK National Action Plan (NAP) for AMR, and how microbial genomics can contribute to meeting them in the UK and beyond. Guests Kate Baker, a researcher at the Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge (Cambridge, UK) and Tess Johnson, a bioethicist at the Ethox Centre of the University of Oxford (Oxford, UK) explain the context in which NAPs for AMR are develped in individual countries, and specifically in the UK, following the first release of WHO's AMR Global Action Plan (GAP) in 2015 and its subsequent update adopted at the 79th World Health Assembly in 2026.

They then run us through the outcomes of a stakeholder workshop of the UK Transdisciplinary Antimicrobial Resistance Genomics Network (TARGetAMR) and detail how microbial genomics can be mapped onto all the key priorities of the UK AMR NAP, and highlight key areas that need further development and who the key players in addressing these gaps should be. Finally, they expand their discussion beyond the UK, highlighting how their findings, might or might not be transferrable to other countries. In their conversation, they also mention a TARGetAMR comic, which can be found here https://www.targetamr.org.uk/our-comic/

Click here to read the full article:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanmic.2026.101372

Elisa Pucu speaks with Henriette Svarre Nielsen about their recently published randomised controlled trial, “Vaginal microbiota transplantation for treatment of vaginal dysbiosis without the use of antibiotics: a double-blind, randomised controlled trial in women with vaginal dysbiosis.”

Together, they explore the study’s key findings, its implications for women’s health, and the growing importance of vaginal microbiota transplantation as a research frontier. They also reflect on what lies ahead for this emerging field.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(25)00222-8/fulltext

Phoebe Ashley-Norman talks with Zakiul Hassan and Prof Tahmina Shirin about the findings of "Interpreting the natural history and pathogenesis of Nipah virus disease through clinical data, to inform clinical trial design: a systematic review", by Zakiul Hassan and colleagues.

We also discuss Nipah virus disease more broadly, talking about recent phylogenetic findings, diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccines, and ongoing challenges.

Read the systematic review here: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(25)00223-X/fulltext

We also touched on some past Lancet publications, which you can explore here: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(23)00361-0/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(24)00262-7/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(24)00765-5/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(23)00707-7/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(24)00270-2/fulltext

Elena Dalla Vecchia talks with Claas Kirchhelle and Lloyd Czaplewski about the current antimicrobial resistance (AMR) governance (with a historical perspective on how it came to be), the 2015 WHO Global Action Plan (GAP) on AMR and the draft for the 2026 updated GAP, the role of social sciences in addressing AMR, the financing mechanisms in antibiotic research and development (including push and pull incentives with public and philantropic funding), and perspectives on the future of the fight against AMR. 

Click here to read the full article:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(25)00243-5/fulltext

Continue this conversation on social!

Elisa Pucu from The Lancet Microbe interviews Dr. Magnus Unemo of Örebro University about the clinical implications and key findings from his research. They discuss about the the microbiological analysis and whole genome sequencing of treatment failures from the zoliflodacin phase 3 clinical trial for gonorrhea—revealing insights that could change the future of treatment and antibiotic resistance. 

Click here to read the full articles: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(25)00198-3/fulltext

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)01953-1/fulltext

Continue this conversation on social!

Phoebe Ashley-Norman of The Lancet Microbe speaks to Amber Barton about the neglected tropical disease, yaws. Efforts to eradicate yaws were first made in the 1950s through a WHO and UNICEF campaign that reduced yaws prevalence by 90%, but it remained endemic in some regions. 

Global efforts involving the mass drug administration of azithromycin continue in pursuit of the WHO 2030 yaws eradication goal. In this podcast, Amber discusses how genomic epidemiology can be used to investigate the effectiveness of yaws eradication strategies, detect sublineages of yaws at higher resolution, and improve our understanding of macrolide resistance.

Click here to read the full article: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/piiS2666-5247(25)00157-0/fulltext

Continue this conversation on social!

Elena Dalla Vecchia of The Lancet Microbe speaks to Dr Britt Koskella about bacteriophages and phageome, their role in modulating the bacteriome, their potential use as signatures of microbiome health and dysbiosis, and hence, indirectly, as markers of host health and disease status. 

From an ecological perspective, parasites (such as bacteriophages) are key drivers of the evolution of their hosts (bacteria), and so one might expect to find diverse and rich bacteriomes in the presence of a highly diverse and thriving microbiome: Britt has been exploring this possibility and discusses it in this episode.

Click here to read the full article: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(25)00124-7/fulltext

Continue this conversation on social!

Rebecca Barksby of The Lancet Microbe speaks to Dr Christian Malaka and Dr Livia Patrono on mpox in the Central African Republic and how researchers are using genomic surveillance to provide insights into the epidemiology of the virus.

Read the full article: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(25)00101-6/fulltext

Continue this conversation on social!