News & events

ESR investigators have been given the green light to unravel an unexplained and increasing epidemic of gastroenteritis in New Zealand. The bacterium Yersinia enterocolitica causes fever, diarrhoea abdominal pain and in 12 per cent of cases this requires hospital treatment. In last 12 months there have been 1,177 notified cases of yersiniosis, more than double the number ...

Genome sequencing — the mapping of the genetic sequences of an organism — has helped track the spread of COVID-19 cases in Auckland, but it also plays an important role in the control of other infectious diseases in New Zealand. One example is Mycoplasma bovis, a global cattle disease New Zealand also hopes to eliminate. ...

One Health Aotearoa investigators have been highly sought after as opinion leaders on the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to providing technical advice to various authorities, our investigators have featured prominently in the media in the effort to provide accurate and timely expert opinion on this developing situation and to keep New Zealand informed. Here is ...

A novel approach to combatting antibiotic resistance in farm animals has won Otago Innovation’s $100,000 Proof of Concept Grant competition for 2020. OHA investigator Professor Sarah Hook and Dr Allan Gamble, from the School of Pharmacy, will use the prize to make chemically-modified antibiotics – known as prodrugs – which only activate in the presence ...

Our winter 2020 newsletter announces more information about our sixth symposium in December including early bird registration and confirmed speakers. It also features a piece buy our ESR colleagues outlining the lack of evidence for foodborne transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. View the One Health Aotearoa Winter 2020 newsletter.

The COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged global cooperation and highlighted the importance of science-based policy in preventing the devastating impact on communities and economies by novel infectious diseases, according to the winner of the University of Otago’s highest honour. Professor David Murdoch is this year’s recipient of the University of Otago’s Distinguished Research Medal.  It is ...

Public health specialist Professor Michael Baker from the University of Otago, Wellington, received the Critic and Conscience of Society Award earlier this week for his extraordinary efforts in keeping the citizens of New Zealand informed about the COVID-19 crisis and public health issues in general. Professor Baker has worked incredibly hard over the past few ...

When the campylobacteria outbreak hit Havelock North in 2016, no-one fully understood how widely it affected the local communities. Gene-sequencing technology used by scientists has shown the true scale of the outbreak. The joint study from ESR, Massey University, Otago University, the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board and the Eastern Institute of Technology suggests the campylobacteriosis ...