Mice with a mixture of the two genes were found to be protected against S. typhi infection.

ECONOMIST: Cystic fibrosis and typhoid fever

The researchers found what they had hoped: the injected cells took up between two and ten times as many S. typhi as those without the normal protein.

ECONOMIST: Cystic fibrosis and typhoid fever

Their research, published in this week's Nature, studied the relationship between Salmonella typhi, the bacterium that causes typhoid fever, and the protein which, when faulty, causes cystic fibrosis.

ECONOMIST: Cystic fibrosis and typhoid fever