Jonna Lorenz is a freelance journalist with more than 20 years of experience. Her background is in business and health care news, including reporting, editing and research for newspapers and websites.
HBV Infection Linked to Threefold Increase in Fibrosis in Patients with Liver Disease
February 17th 2023A recent study suggests that metabolic factors such as hypertension and diabetes were associated with an increased risk of liver fibrosis among patients with metabolic associated fatty liver disease who had hepatitis B virus infection.
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Inappropriate Prescribing of Antibiotics Associated with Increased Costs, Adverse Events
February 13th 2023Six respiratory infections are among the most common diagnoses for which antibiotics often are inappropriately prescribed, and new research sheds light on the effects, both in increased risk of adverse events and excess health care costs.
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Large New Zealand Study Confirms Safety Profile of Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine
January 26th 2023The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was associated with rare instances of myo/pericarditis and acute kidney injury, according to a nationwide study in New Zealand that confirmed the safety profile of the vaccine.
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FDA Expands Use of Vemlidy to Adolescents with Chronic HBV Infection
December 5th 2022Children as young as 12 can now receive tenofovir alafenamide for treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus infection with compensated liver disease, after the US Food and Drug Administration expanded the indication for the drug.
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Monoclonal Antibody Treatment for COVID-19 in Pregnant People Seems Safe
November 27th 2022A recent study by investigators at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine found few mild adverse events from monoclonal antibody treatment among pregnant people with COVID-19, but no difference in COVID-19 outcomes.
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Wearing Masks Didn’t Increase Face Touching Among Kids in Simulated School Study
November 7th 2022The benefits to children of wearing face masks to prevent COVID-19 outweigh potential infectious risks from face touching, according to a study analyzing hand-to-face contact in a simulated school environment.
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Cefepime-Taniborbactam Beats Meropenem for Treating cUTI in Phase 3 Trial
October 27th 2022Venatorx Pharmaceuticals is advancing the fight against difficult-to-treat, drug-resistant, gram-negative bacteria with a successful phase 3 clinical trial of its investigational antibiotic cefepime-taniborbactam.
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Moderna’s Bivalent COVID-19 Booster Elicits Superior Antibody Responses
October 14th 2022Moderna’s new bivalent COVID-19 booster, which includes 25 micrograms each of messenger RNAs from the Wuhan-Hu-1 and Omicron B.1.1.529 variants of SARS-CoV-2, elicited antibody responses that were superior to those elicited by the original vaccine.
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Dentists Improve Antibiotic Prescribing after Antibiotic Stewardship Education
August 30th 2022Dentists write about 25.7 million prescriptions annually, amounting to about 10% of all outpatient antibiotic prescriptions in the United States. A recent study showed that educating dentists about the risks of antibiotics—including antimicrobial resistance and Clostridioides difficile infections—led to sharp decreases in prescriptions.
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HCV Reinfection Rare Among Patients Receiving Opioid Agonist Therapy
August 24th 2022Rates of hepatitis C reinfection were low among people receiving opioid agonist therapy, according to a new study, which highlights the importance of risk reduction interventions and HCV treatment for people who inject drugs and people receiving opioid agonist therapy.
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Third Dose of COVID-19 Vaccines May Boost Immunity in Patients with Hematologic Cancers
August 22nd 2022A third dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines may allow most immune compromised patients with hematologic cancers to achieve antibody response levels similar to those of healthy adults after a two-dose series.
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Incidence of STIs Stabilized Among Gay and Bisexual Men Using HIV PrEP
August 9th 2022After widespread implementation of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among gay and bisexual men in Australia, population-level incidence of chlamydia and gonorrhea stabilized, allaying fears that PrEP would lead to a rise in STIs, a recent study found.
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