Infectious Diseases News

December 24, 2024

Top Headlines

Public Shows Greater Acceptance of RSV Vaccine as Vaccine Hesitancy Appears to Have Plateaued

Dec. 23, 2024 — A year after becoming available, vaccines to protect against RSV in newborns and older adults are being more widely accepted by the American public, according to a new health ...

Scientists Design Workaround That Improves Response to Flu Vaccine

Dec. 19, 2024 — Stitching together four molecules found in the standard flu vaccine ensures an immune response to all of them, scientists have ...

After Lockdown, Immune System Reacts More Strongly to Viruses and Bacteria

Dec. 18, 2024 — New research shows that the lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on people's immune response to microorganisms. During the lockdown, inflammation level in the body was low, but afterwards, the immune system reacted more ...

Flu Virus Remains Infectious in Refrigerated Raw Milk, Study Reveals

Dec. 13, 2024 — Influenza or flu virus remains infectious in refrigerated raw milk for up to five days, according to a new study. The findings come at a time when outbreaks of bird flu -- a different subtype of the same influenza virus -- in dairy cattle have ...

Latest Headlines

updated 8:15pm EST

Study Shows Drop in Use of Antiviral Medications in Young Children With Influenza

Dec. 17, 2024 — Despite national medical guidelines supporting the use of antiviral medications in young children diagnosed with influenza, a recent study reports an ...

Study Assesses Virulence of Cryptococcus Strains, Laying Groundwork for Improved Treatment

Dec. 16, 2024 — A lab has completed a six-year study to examine the virulence of 38 clinical isolates from various strains of ...

Researchers Design a Therapeutic Tool to Inhibit the Proliferation of the SARS-CoV-2 Virus That Causes COVID-19

Dec. 3, 2024 — Researchers present a new therapeutic tool capable of inhibiting the proliferation of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. The results open up ...

From Yemen to Mayotte, the Spread of a Highly Drug-Resistant Cholera Strain

Dec. 13, 2024 — Scientists have revealed the spread of a highly drug-resistant cholera ...

A New Class of Antivirals Could Help Prevent Future Pandemics

Dec. 11, 2024 — Researchers discovered a vulnerability in viral enzymes that could lead to novel treatments for diseases as diverse as COVID-19 and Ebola -- while also minimizing side effects and reducing the odds ...

Analysis Reveals an Additional Mechanism Behind Statin Therapy's Heart-Related Benefits in People With HIV

Dec. 11, 2024 — Investigators who previously found that a daily statin pill helps prevent heart attacks and strokes in people with HIV have now discovered a ...

Updated Hep B Vaccine More Effective for People With HIV

Dec. 10, 2024 — A newer vaccine against hepatitis B virus was clearly superior to an older vaccine type in inducing a protective antibody response among people living with HIV who didn't respond to prior ...

Rotavirus Vaccine Is Safe for Use in NICU Babies, Study Suggests

Dec. 9, 2024 — Researchers found that transmission of rotavirus vaccine strains in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is rare and without clinical consequences, strongly suggesting that giving the rotavirus ...

Single Mutation in H5N1 Influenza Surface Protein Could Enable Easier Human Infection

Dec. 6, 2024 — A single modification in the protein found on the surface of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 influenza virus currently circulating ...

CAST Mouse Model: A Crucial Tool for Future COVID-19 Outbreaks

Dec. 6, 2024 — Researchers have identified the first mouse strain that is susceptible to severe COVID-19 without the need for genetic modification. This development marks a pivotal step forward in infectious ...

Cleaning Surfaces Every Two Hours Cuts Norovirus Infections by 83 Percent in Airports, Study Finds

Dec. 5, 2024 — At airports, frequently disinfecting surfaces, mask-wearing and antimicrobial surface coatings can all help prevent the spread of norovirus, according to a new ...

Scientists Identify Mutation That Could Facilitate H5N1 'Bird Flu' Virus Infection and Potential Transmission in Humans

Dec. 5, 2024 — Avian influenza viruses typically require several mutations to adapt and spread among humans, but what happens when just one change can increase the risk of becoming a pandemic virus? A recent study ...

Pregnancy Enhances Natural Immunity to Block Severe Flu

Dec. 2, 2024 — Scientists have discovered that pregnancy may trigger a natural immunity to boost protection against severe flu infection. Contrary to the common belief that pregnancy increases vulnerability to ...

Bacteria Ditch Tags to Dodge Antibiotics

Nov. 29, 2024 — Bacteria modify their ribosomes when exposed to widely used antibiotics, according to new research. The modified ribosomes have changes specifically in the regions where antibiotics latch on to and ...

Clinical Trial Reveals Twice-Yearly Injection to Be 96% Effective in HIV Prevention

Nov. 27, 2024 — Recent results from a recent clinical trial indicate that a twice-yearly injection of Lenacapavir offers an overall 96% reduced risk of acquiring HIV. This makes Lenacapavir significantly more ...

Nanorobot Hand Made of DNA Grabs Viruses for Diagnostics and Blocks Cell Entry

Nov. 27, 2024 — A tiny, four-fingered 'hand' folded from a single piece of DNA can pick up the virus that causes COVID-19 for highly sensitive rapid detection and can even block viral particles from ...

Researchers Find That Intestinal Infections Change Bile Composition

Nov. 26, 2024 — Researchers have identified a new axis of host defense by studying what happens during enteric infection -- a term that encompasses all types of intestinal infections including so called ...

Sub-Saharan Africa Leads Global HIV Decline

Nov. 25, 2024 — A new study reveals significant progress in the global fight against HIV/AIDS, alongside a stark warning that current trends indicate the world is not on track to meet the ambitious UNAIDS 2030 ...

Phages, Towards a Targeted Alternative to Antibiotics

Nov. 25, 2024 — With the rapid development of antibiotics in the 1930s, phage therapy -- using viruses known as bacteriophages or phages to tackle bacterial infections -- fell into oblivion. But as the current rise ...

Pandrug-Resistant Bacteria from the War in Ukraine Are Extremely Pathogenic

Nov. 25, 2024 — It has been a year ago since bacteria from war-wounded at hospitals in Ukraine were analyzed. The study showed that some of the bacteria types had total resistance to antibiotics. Now, the same ...

Scientists Implicate a Novel Cellular Protein in Hepatitis A Infection

Nov. 21, 2024 — Scientists have long been trying to tease apart hepatitis A virus, to understand its inner workings and how it functions in the human body. Infectious disease researchers have discovered that a ...

Cigarette Smoke Alters Microbiota, Aggravates Flu Severity

Nov. 20, 2024 — A new study shows that cigarette-smoke induced changes to the microbiota resulted in increased severity of disease in mice infected with influenza A ...

HIV Latency Reversing Properties in African Plant

Nov. 19, 2024 — The Wistar Institute and the University of Buea in Cameroon has uncovered the mechanisms for a medicinal plant with anti-HIV potential in Croton oligandrus Pierre & Hutch, a species of African ...

Meningitis Has a Much Greater Impact on Child Mortality Than Previously Thought

Nov. 19, 2024 — Meningitis contributes to higher child mortality rates than estimated by the WHO, according to a new ...

Seemingly 'Broken' Genes in Coronaviruses May Be Essential for Viral Survival

Nov. 19, 2024 — Researchers have found that coronaviruses like SARS-CoV-2 contain genes that appear important for viral survival even though they don't produce a working protein. Their work investigating how ...

Eradivir's EV25 Therapeutic Reduces Advanced-Stage Influenza Viral Loads Faster, More Thoroughly in Preclinical Studies Than Current Therapies

Nov. 19, 2024 — A research article shows that Eradivir's patent-pending antiviral therapeutic called EV25 reduces lung viral loads of advanced-stage influenza in preclinical studies quicker and more effectively ...

Researchers Use Biophysics to Design New Vaccines Against RSV and Related Respiratory Viruses

Nov. 19, 2024 — In most people, the lung-infecting pathogens known as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human metapneumovirus (hMPV) trigger mild cold-like symptoms. But in infants and seniors, these viruses can ...

New Nasal Vaccine Shows Promise in Curbing Whooping Cough Spread

Nov. 18, 2024 — A new nasal whooping cough vaccine showed an ability to prevent both infection and transmission of the disease in mice. Current vaccines offer treatment but fail to halt transmission of the bacteria ...

When Hepatitis E Viruses Attack Nerve Cells

Nov. 18, 2024 — Hepatitis E viruses (HEV) typically cause liver infections. They can, however, also infect other organs and cause neurological disorders. Little is yet known about how this process works. A research ...

Achilles Heel of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

Nov. 16, 2024 — To stem the surging antibiotic resistance public health crisis, scientists seek solutions inside the mechanics of bacterial infection. A new study has found a vulnerability related to magnesium ...