Infectious Diseases News

May 13, 2025

Top Headlines

'Loop'hole: HIV-1 Hijacks Human Immune Cells Using Circular RNAs

May 13, 2025 — Researchers have identified a never-before-seen mechanism that enables HIV-1 to evade the body's natural defenses and use it to support its survival and replication. The 'loophole' is a biological process that involves circular RNAs and marks the ...

Discovery of Antibiotic Resistance in Newly Identified Bacterium

May 7, 2025 — The recently discovered bacterium Staphylococcus borealis, named after the Northern Lights, turns out to be resistant to several classes of antibiotics. The elderly are especially at ...

Researchers Map 7,000-Year-Old Genetic Mutation That Protects Against HIV

May 9, 2025 — Modern HIV medicine is based on a common genetic mutation. Now, researchers have traced where and when the mutation arose -- and how it protected our ancestors from ancient ...

Novel, Needle-Free, Live-Attenuated Influenza Vaccines With Broad Protection Against Human and Avian Virus Subtypes

May 9, 2025 — A research team has achieved a significant breakthrough in developing broadly protective, live-attenuated influenza vaccines (LAIV). These innovative LAIV platforms offer potential to develop ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:42pm EDT

Building Vaccines for Future Versions of a Virus

May 8, 2025 — AI model EVE-Vax provides clues about how a virus may evolve and the immune response it could ...

Evaluating the Safety and Efficacy of a Smallpox Vaccine for Preventing Mpox

May 8, 2025 — The recent global monkeypox (mpox) outbreak, with a new and aggressive variant, has underscored the dire need for safe, broadly effective, and ...

HIV Drugs Offer 'Substantial' Alzheimer's Protection, New Research Indicates

May 8, 2025 — The drugs, called NRTIs, have the potential to prevent a million cases of Alzheimer's every year, the researchers ...

Engineering an Antibody Against Flu With Sticky Staying Power

May 8, 2025 — Scientists have engineered a monoclonal antibody that can protect mice from a lethal dose of influenza A, a new study shows. The new molecule combines the specificity of a mature flu fighter with the ...

Viruses Under the Super Microscope: How Influenza Viruses Communicate With Cells

May 7, 2025 — Influenza viruses are among the most likely triggers of future pandemics. A research team has developed a method that can be used to study the ...

Researchers Restore Antibiotic Effect in the Event of Resistance

May 7, 2025 — Bacterial resistance negates the effect of antibiotics in the treatment of infection. Using mouse models, researchers now show that if antibiotics are administered with an enzyme called endolysin, ...

Structural Barriers May Prevent Cancer Care for People Living With HIV

May 5, 2025 — People living with HIV are less likely to receive potentially lifesaving cancer treatment if they live in communities with lower income levels and educational attainment, according to a new US ...

New Molecular Label Could Lead to Simpler, Faster Tuberculosis Tests

May 5, 2025 — Chemists found a way to identify a complex sugar molecule in the cell walls of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the world's deadliest pathogen. This labeling could lead to simpler, faster TB ...

HIV: Genetic Characteristics Associated With Sustained HIV Remission After Stopping Treatment

Apr. 30, 2025 — Tackling HIV continues to be a major public health challenge, mainly because the persistence of viral reservoirs means that people living with HIV ...

Influenza Virus Hacks Cell's Internal System

Apr. 28, 2025 — The influenza virus manipulates the body's gene regulation system to accelerate its own spread. A new study also shows that an already approved drug could help strengthen immune defenses -- though ...

The Antibiotic That Takes the Bite out of Lyme

Apr. 23, 2025 — Piperacillin, an antibiotic in the same class as penicillin, effectively cured mice of Lyme disease at 100-times less than the effective dose of doxycycline, the current gold standard treatment. At ...

Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome May Be Driven by Remnants of Infection

Apr. 23, 2025 — Scientists believe they know what causes the treated infection to mimic chronic illness: the body may be responding to remnants of the bacteria that causes Lyme that tend to pool in the liver and ...

Scientists Identify Potential Treatments for Emerging Zoonotic Pathogens

Apr. 23, 2025 — A team of biomedical researchers trained a machine learning algorithm to identify more than two dozen viable treatments for diseases caused by zoonotic pathogens that can jump from animal hosts to ...

Bacteria Killing Material Creates Superbug Busting Paint

Apr. 23, 2025 — A bacteria killing coating created by scientists has been used in trials of a new paint that can be applied to a range of surfaces to effectively kill bacteria and viruses, including difficult to ...

Study Reveals Gaps in Flu Treatment for High-Risk Adults

Apr. 22, 2025 — A multi-state study reveals that many high-risk adults diagnosed with influenza (flu) in emergency departments and urgent care centers are not receiving timely antiviral treatment. Researchers found ...

Empowering Antibodies to Better Activate the Immune System

Apr. 22, 2025 — Antibodies are best known for their ability to latch onto and neutralize bacteria, viruses and other pathogens. But these immune proteins can do more than that: They also activate other components of ...

Experimental Cancer Drug Could Streamline Standard Tuberculosis Treatment and Prevent Post-TB Lung Disease, Study Suggests

Apr. 21, 2025 — An experimental drug now in clinical trials as a cancer treatment could help boost the power of first-line tuberculosis (TB) treatments by helping infected cells die a gentler death, investigators ...

A Light-Activated Probe Reveals TB Immune System Evasion Mechanisms

Apr. 21, 2025 — Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that kills more than a million people worldwide every year. The pathogen that causes the disease, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is deadly in part because of ...

Americans Don't Think Bird Flu Is a Threat, Study Suggests

Apr. 18, 2025 — A team led by researchers say public ignorance and apathy towards bird flu (highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI) could pose a serious obstacle to containing the virus and preventing a ...

Experimental Bird Flu Vaccine Excels in Animal Models

Apr. 17, 2025 — A vaccine under development has demonstrated complete protection in mice against a deadly variant of the virus that causes bird flu. The work focuses on the H5N1 variant known as 2.3.4.4b, which has ...

Structural Images of a Tuberculosis-Fighting Virus

Apr. 16, 2025 — Mycobacteria are the world's most deadly bacteria --c ausing infectious diseases including tuberculosis (TB), which alone kills more than one million people each year. New drugs to fight these ...

Experts Stress Importance of Vaccination Amidst Measles Outbreaks

Apr. 14, 2025 — Pediatric infectious diseases experts stress the importance of vaccination against measles, one of the most contagious viruses, which is once more spreading in the United ...

A Mysterious Pathogen: Oropouche Virus More Common in Latin America Than Previously Thought

Apr. 14, 2025 — Like the dengue and Zika viruses, Oropouche virus causes a febrile illness. There are recent indications that infections during pregnancy can cause damage to unborn babies. Researchers have now ...

Immune Protein Modification Blocks Viral Replication, Heart Inflammation

Apr. 10, 2025 — Virology researchers have found that a specific protein modification to the immune protein MDA5 is key to how our bodies detect and respond to viruses and viral replication. The publication explains ...

'Eolving' Opioid Epidemic Across U.S.

Apr. 10, 2025 — The heart of the opioid epidemic that killed 665,341 people in the United States between 2005 and 2020 shifted geographically from the Northwest to the East, according to a new geographical ...

Certain Nasal Bacteria May Boost the Risk for COVID-19 Infection, Study Finds

Apr. 9, 2025 — A new study has found that certain bacteria living in the nose may influence how likely someone is to get a COVID-19 infection. The research reveals that certain types of nasal bacteria can affect ...

A New Smartphone-Sized Device Can Test for Tuberculosis: Here's Why That Matters for Children

Apr. 9, 2025 — This handheld device is the first that can detect tuberculosis in saliva, in addition to blood and sputum samples, an important breakthrough for testing children and HIV patients, who struggle to ...

Nasal Spray H5N1 Avian Influenza Vaccine Developed

Apr. 8, 2025 — Scientists have pioneered an influenza virus vector-based nasal spray vaccine platform and developed a nasal spray H5N1 avian influenza vaccine. During the early COVID-19 pandemic, this platform ...

An Antiviral Chewing Gum to Reduce Influenza and Herpes Simplex Virus Transmission

Apr. 4, 2025 — Low vaccination rates for influenza viruses and the lack of an HSV vaccine underscore the need for a new approach to reduce viral transmission. Researchers have now used a clinical-grade antiviral ...

Molecular Stool Test Could Improve Detection of Tuberculosis in Adults With HIV

Apr. 4, 2025 — The Xpert MTB/Ultra molecular diagnostic test for stool samples, until now recommended only for children, could be established as an additional test for diagnosing tuberculosis in adults living with ...