Ibuprofen may be treatment for Q fever, Porton Down scientists discover

Because of the extent of the screening and cross-checking, the team used an automated process that enabled the testing to be carried out at scale, at speed and with improved accuracy.

“We learned from Covid that speed is essential, so we have robots alongside scientists to speed up that process,” said Prof Tim Atkins, a senior scientist at Porton Down, who was awarded an OBE for his work on Novichok, the deadly nerve agent deployed by the Russians against a double agent in Salisbury.

Scientists have subsequently refined the work to establish the best concentrations and combinations of ibuprofen and antibiotics to maximise the efficacy of the treatment.

Q fever has been known to the military as a threat to frontline troops since the early 1950s. It is most likely to be contracted by being in locations where there are or have been cattle, sheep and goats. It is present in the UK as well as in war zones overseas.

Porton Down scientists see their work as part of their duty of care to the military – as well as the wider population. Their aim is threefold, starting with work to characterise the traits of microorganisms such as their capacity to survive in different environments. Second, they aim to develop systems to sense, monitor and detect them and, thirdly, to create medical counter-measures or therapeutic interventions.

Biological and chemical materials are graded into four categories, with level four the highest covering viruses like Ebola, level three includes anthrax and the plague, level two covers bacteria like Salmonella and level one including microorganisms found in yoghurt drinks.

Prof Atkins led the team that identified the nerve agent Novichok within days of it being deployed by Russian agents to poison Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury.