Bacterial disease - PhD worked with it, I hear (10)
I believe the answer is:
diphtheria
'bacterial disease' is the definition.
'diphtheria' can be an answer for 'disease' (diphtheria is a kind of disease). I am unsure of the 'bacterial' bit.
'phd worked with it i hear' is the wordplay.
'worked with' is an anagram indicator.
'it'+'i'+'hear'='itihear'
'phd' with its letters mixed up with 'itihear' gives 'DIPHTHERIA'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for diphtheria that I've seen is " Highly infectious throat disease".)