Infectious Diseases

🗞️ Recent study with @lshtm-tbmod.bsky.social modelled the potential impact of funding cuts to TB #PublicHealth initiatives from international donors

Already implemented USAID cuts could cost $7.5 billion (USD) for healthcare systems & people living with TB

Read 🔽
www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/cen...

RFK Jr.'s MAHA Allies Call to Eliminate All Childhood Vaccine Recommendations Inside the MAHA movement’s Washington meetup.

“The childhood vaccination schedule needs to be eliminated," MAHA Institute's president said at a meeting Monday, @notus.com reports www.notus.org/health-scien...

Omicron-adapted COVID vaccines may reduce death, hospitalization risk

Vaccination timing may also influence protection.

www.cidrap.umn.edu/c...

Boy, 7, dies of brain condition caused by world’s most contagious disease — years after he had it as a baby Even those who make a full recovery from the initial infection face a lurking threat: a deadly disease that remains latent until striking — and killing — years later.

California boy dies of SSPE (measles complication) after being infected at age 7 months, when he was too young to be vaccinated.

Spot on

Vinay Prasad was "impulsive and careless, and did more harm to the FDA than good"

Large drugmakers are developing fewer antibiotics, analysis finds The number of potential antimicrobial treatments being developed by the world’s largest drugmakers nosedived by 35% over the past five years, according to a new analysis.

“The number of potential antimicrobial treatments being developed by the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies nosedived by 35% — from 92 to 60 — over the past five years” www.statnews.com/2026/03/10/d...

Measles has sent 120 people in Utah to the ER since June, including 31 who were hospitalized, 3 placed in the ICU.

Health providers across the state have reported measles-induced hepatitis, and aplastic crisis, which results in life-threatening anemia.

Roster of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Adv Cmte This is the Roster of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee

The #VRBPAC committee is scheduled to meet Thursday to advise #FDA on #flu vaccine strain selection for next winter's shots. VRBPAC is supposed to have at least 15 members. It currently has 7 voting members & no chair. It has been convened only twice since Jan. 2025. www.fda.gov/advisory-com...

Measles is 'worse than expected' in Utah, officials say Measles patients in Utah are developing severe complications, health officials say, including potentially life-threatening anemia and liver inflammation.

“Statewide..more than 120 people have gone to the emergency room over the course of the outbreak. Thirty-one people were hospitalized for at least one night, and three people were placed in the intensive care unit.” www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

No measles cases in Butler County, but Independence Health System chief urges vaccination A familiar infectious disease is spreading through the country at a rapid pace after a long downturn in cases — measles. As of Friday, March 6, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported ...

“I was able to get the records..on the percentage of people in the Butler Area School District who are vaccinated against measles..In the older grades..over 96%. In the younger grades..fall below that 95% threshold. Some grade schools are as low as 77%” www.butlereagle.com/20260308/no-...

Biosecurity depends critically on the early identification of novel pathogens.

Our international team developed a global multi-scale model of infectious diseases to evaluate the time to detection in aircraft wastewater vs. other surveillance modalities.

www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...

Billions of dollars, decades of progress spent eliminating devastating diseases may be lost with undoing of USAID Public health campaigns had made significant strides toward eradicating diseases like elephantitis and river blindness. But this progress has since unraveled with the second Trump administration.

Billions spent fighting neglected tropical diseases could unravel after the U.S. eliminated the U.S. Agency for International Development, researchers warn.

Programs targeting river blindness and elephantiasis are stalled around the world, risking new infections for millions.

Dynamics of natural selection preceding human viral epidemics and pandemics Using a phylogenetic framework to characterize natural selection, we investigate the hypothesis that zoonotic viruses require adaptation prior to zoon…

There's a common misconception that zoonotic viruses require significant adaptation to jump from animals to cause human epidemics.

Not so 👇.

Further, we see clear signs of 1977 flu experiencing cell passage, prior to epidemic.

SARS-CoV-2? Business as usual.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Le vaccin mCombriax, premier à protéger contre la grippe et la Covid-19, validé par l’Agence européenne du médicament L’institution s’est prononcée fin février pour la mise sur le marché de l’Union européenne de la nouvelle préparation du laboratoire Moderna, qui immunise contre ces deux maladies respiratoires.

Le vaccin mCombriax, premier à protéger contre la grippe et la Covid-19, validé par l’Agence européenne du médicament

When the Default Is Inaction How Shared Clinical Decision-Making Became a Mechanism for Dismantling the Childhood Vaccine Schedule

Read this: When #HHS rewrote the childhood vaccination schedule, it pushed several "recommended for all vaccines" to the "shared clinical decision making" category. SCDM has been conflated with informed consent by proponents of the change but it isn't that.
jakescottmd.substack.com/p/when-the-d...

And if a drug inhibits growth, while control samples keep growing, then what looks like "drug response" might just be the lack of transcriptional changes of growth, thus not specific to your drug, & often not interesting.

See this a lot in bacteria / antibiotic response, within hours. Non-trivial.

Pathogen Factors Promoting Fungal Infection Infectious Dose - High initial inoculum exceeds immune clearance Immune Evasion Eg: • B-glucan masking (C albicans, Histoplasma capsulatum) • Capsule formation (Cryptococcus neoformans) • Melanin production (dematiaceous fungi) • Biofilm production (Candida spp., A fumigatus) Tissue Tropism Examples: • Aspergillus fumigatus for lung parenchyma • C neoformans/ C. gattii for CNS tissues (meninges) • Basidiobolus ranarum for bowel wall • Trichophyton spp. strict tropism for keratinized tissues • Aspergillus and Candida spp. for external auditory canal Host Factors Enabling Fungal Persistence Immunosuppression or Innate Immune Deficits Examples: • CARD9 deficiency • Diabetes mellitus • Idiopathic CD4 lymphocytopenia • Hematologic malignancies • HIV/AIDS Conditions and Comorbidities (Non-immunosuppressive) Examples: • Chronic lung diseases (e.g. prior pulmonary TB, COPD)) • Eczema/atopic dermatitis • Heightened estrogen • IVDU • Previous surgeries • Smoking • Wounds or burns Clinical Factors Delaying Disease Resolution Antibiotic and/or Steroid Use/Misuse Eg: • Bacterial pneumonia abx for coccidioidomycosis or histoplasmosis • Topical steroid misuse for ringworm Delayed Diagnosis or Misdiagnosis Delayed diagnosis due to: • Non-specific or overlapping clinical presentation • Empiric treatment • Limited access to diagnostics • Long test turnaround times • Lack of provider awareness Misdiagnosis Immunosuppressive Regimens Eg: • Chemotherapy • Organ transplantation Steroids Chronic Disease States Affecting Body Systems Respiratory • Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis • Chronic pulmonary coccidioidomycosis • Chronic cavitary pulmonary histoplasmosis Neurologic • Cryptococcal meningoencephalitis • Phaeohyphomycosis • Coccidioidal meningitis Cardiac • endocarditis GI • histoplasmosis • basidiobolomycosis Sensory • keratitis • otitis Mucosa, Skin & Bone • T indotineae • Recurrent vvc • Chromoblastomycosis • Eumycetoma

Contribution of fungal diseases to the U.S. chronic disease burden

From the CDC Mycotic Diseases Branch

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... #IDSky #MedMycoSky

Rapid RSV Tests Can Cut Down on Unneeded Antibiotics, Study Suggests Testing may help outpatient clinicians better manage lower respiratory tract infections

“suggest that virologic confirmation can increase clinicians' confidence in withholding antibiotics when a viral etiology is identified, thereby supporting more judicious prescribing practices, particularly in nonserious cases," www.medpagetoday.com/pediatrics/r...

Asymptomatic, acute and persistent COVID-19 symptom changes over the course of three infections Data from a UK healthcare worker cohort published in 2024 examined how signs and symptoms of COVID-19 changed after 1, 2, or 3 SARS-CoV-2 lab-confirmed infections. Those with no symptoms through to those whose symptoms persisted for >12 weeks recalled their experience, and the cohort included vaccinated and unvaccinated people and spanned the presence of different virus variants. Humans not modelling The SARS-CoV-2 Immunity and Reinfection EvaluatioN (SIREN) study is a large cohort study of UK healthcare workers. The participants were tested each fortnight by SARS-CoV-2 PCR and regular antibody testing (serology).

Most acute and persistent COVID-19 symptoms decrease and asymptomatic infections increase over time, after multiple infections and with vaccination, but plenty remain.

Immunomodulation in the Treatment of Disseminated Coccidioidomycosis Severe coccidioidomycosis carries high mortality despite antifungals. We treated 18 refractory cases with immune modulation, including augmentation of Type

More adjunctive immunomodulation for an infectious disease!

Here it's dupilumab (IL-4/13 blockade) in coccidioidomycosis.

Case series only, but not overtly harmful and maybe even helpful.

#IDSky #immunosky

academic.oup.com/cid/advance-...

The role of microbial genomics in delivering the UK’s national action plan for confronting antimicrobial resistance 2024–29 Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major threat to human and animal health, in addition to environmental resilience. Countries set the agenda on their national action against AMR in the form of Natio...

What is the role of #microbial #genomics in delivering the #UK National Action Plan (NAP) for confronting #AntimicrobialResistance ( #AMR ) 2024-29? Read our new open-access #OA piece in @lancetmicrobe.bsky.social exploring this topic from various expertise🛟🧪🧬🖥️🦠💉🧫😷
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Testing menstrual blood

Testing menstrual blood for human papillomavirus (HPV) could be a “robust alternative or replacement” for current cervical cancer screening by a clinician, finds a BMJ study from China
www.bmj.com/content/392/...

Testing menstrual blood for human papillomavirus during cervical cancer screening in China: cross sectional population based study Objective To compare the diagnostic accuracy of minipad collected menstrual blood versus clinician collected cervical samples to test for human papillomavirus (HPV) in the detection of cervical intrae...

This is a remarkable study. A simple sanitary pad could transform cervical cancer screening. Researchers enrolled 3,000+ women (age 20–54) & compared 2 approaches:
Standard clinician-collected cervical HPV test
HPV testing from menstrual blood collected on a sanitary pad
www.bmj.com/content/392/...

#naturecommunications | Roger Paredes Today we publish in #NatureCommunications evidence that dolutegravir, unlike darunavir, helps restore the gut microbiome in people presenting late with HIV In our multicentre, open‑label RCT (96 week...

www.linkedin.com/posts/roger-...

How measles impact the brain.

South Carolina Hospitals Aren’t Required to Disclose Measles-Related Admissions. That Leaves Doctors in the Dark. Physicians across South Carolina, home to the largest measles outbreak in decades, are advising patients without the benefit of real-time data on hospitalizations due to measles-related pneumonia, bra...

Physicians across South Carolina are advising patients without the benefit of comprehensive data about how many residents have been hospitalized due to measles-related pneumonia, dehydration, brain swelling and other serious complications.

1/ Man, The Pitt is so good!

I was thrilled to see they decided to bring back the measles plot from season one because it’s so relevant right now. We’re on the brink of losing our measles elimination status, yet I still hear people brush off measles like it’s no big deal.

CDC: Unvaccinated international traveler spread measles to 17 other travelers to, within US The index patient had a fever, persistent cough, cold-like symptoms, and conjunctivitis (“pink eye”) during travel.

CDC: Unvaccinated international traveler spread measles to 17 other travelers to, within US www.cidrap.umn.edu/measles/cdc-...

2026 is already half of all of last year's cases, and it's only March! You know what to do. Spread the word, not measles. doh.wa.gov/measles

South Carolina Hospitals Aren’t Required to Disclose Measles-Related Admissions. That Leaves Doctors in the Dark. Physicians across South Carolina, home to the largest measles outbreak in decades, are advising patients without the benefit of real-time data on hospitalizations due to measles-related pneumonia, bra...

ProPublica contacted state health agencies across the South and found most do not require hospitals to report measles-related admissions.

Alabama is among the few that do. Virginia does too, but it doesn’t release that data to the public.