The image shows an Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) in a laboratory.

©BNITM

Publication

Oropouche virus: Can mosquitoes be carriers?

Until now, it was unclear whether mosquitoes could transmit and spread Oropouche viruses. A new study by the BNITM now shows that they can! Specifically, tiger mosquitoes, which are spreading increasingly in Europe due to climate change. They appear to have what is known as vector competence for this tropical pathogen. This has implications for risk assessment.

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©The Lancet One Health Commission

Rethinking Health

The Lancet One Health Commission Report

The world is facing a connected health crisis: zoonoses, antibiotic resistance, climate change and environmental destruction are threatening lives and stability worldwide. The first report by The Lancet One Health Commission calls for a radical change: only an integrated One Health approach that considers humans, animals and the environment together can prevent pandemics, ensure global justice and achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

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©Maria Rosenthal

Funding

Success in the Leibniz Programme for Female Professors

BNITM researcher Dr Maria Rosenthal has been awarded a grant under the Leibniz Programme for Women Professors to set up her own research group. Her goal is to identify new approaches for antiviral therapies against dangerous bunyaviruses – pathogens for which there are currently no vaccines or drugs. The group is moving to the Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB) on the Hamburg-Bahrenfeld research campus.

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Group photo: two older gentlemen on the outside, the two young female scientists inside with certificates in their hands

©BNITM

Doctoral awards

Support association honours outstanding dissertations

The Association of Friends of the Hamburg Tropical Institute (VdF) has awarded its 2025 doctoral prizes to two outstanding young scientists: Dr Barbara Honecker investigated the role of extracellular vesicles in amoebiasis, while Dr Valeria Füsslin developed a method for rapidly determining resistance in cholera pathogens. The prizes recognise excellent research in tropical medicine.

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©ViMOP

New pipeline for virus genome data

ViMOP strengthens outbreak surveillance in West Africa

How can virus outbreaks be detected more quickly? The ViMOP pipeline developed by BNITM analyses untargeted nanopore sequencing – simply, flexibly and robustly. It has now been introduced in Guinea and Nigeria in collaboration with partner laboratories. The aim is to strengthen regional surveillance, present results in an understandable way and enable faster response times.

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©ECTMIH2025

Specialist event

Science Congress

In October 2025, the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM) will celebrate its 125th anniversary. And how do researchers celebrate? With a scientific conference! After thirty years, the ‘European Congress on Tropical Medicine and International Health’ (ECTMIH) is returning to Hamburg. The organisers are expecting more than 1,000 participants at the Congress Center Hamburg (CCH). Take part and send in your session proposals!

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