Students are being paid to be infected with dangerous tropical diseases in the U.K

Cash strapped university students are being paid as much as £3,500 to be infected with dangerous tropical diseases including typhoid, malaria and pneumonia.

The UK students are among a growing number of healthy volunteers being paid to be infected with exotic bacteria and viruses for scientific research at institutions including Oxford University and Imperial College London.

The UK is a world leader in the study of infectious diseases and the experiments – known as “challenge trials” where human guinea pigs, mainly students, are “challenged” with an infectious disease – have become a popular way to progress the development of new vaccines at a fraction of the cost of field studies.