Nina Cosdon

The findings of this study are consistent with other findings that maternal viral infection during pregnancy increases the risk for neurodevelopmental morbidity in offspring.

A new study found negative expectations prior to COVID-19 vaccination were associated with more systemic adverse events in individuals receiving their second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

"Antibiotics can safely be withheld in most patients with viral respiratory infections,” these study authors wrote.

This week's hottest topics included the risks of proton pump inhibitors, rare tickborne disease, HIV vaccination, COVID-19 immunity from a common cold, and hydrocortisone for pneumonia.

March 24 is World Tuberculosis Day. Here’s a brief history of the second deadliest infectious disease, and how it affects the world today.

Using a pregnant rabbit model, investigators found a robust antigen-specific antibody response in pregnant rabbits against HIV and Zika virus.

With yesterday’s FDA decision, Cidara’s injectable antifungal rezafungin become the first new drug approved to treat candidemia and invasive candidiasis in over a decade.

Candida auris fungal infections increased 95% in 2021, and drug-resistant cases are continuing to spread across the US.

Exposure to a common seasonal coronavirus stimulates a memory T cell response that protects children against COVID-19. However, this immune response peaks at age 6.

After 28 days, hydrocortisone reduced the risk of mortality by 5.7% in severe community-acquired pneumonia patients.

Despite failing to meet primary trial endpoints, molnupiravir reduced the length of COVID-19 infection by 4.2 days in vaccinated patients.

The findings of this study could pave the way for new, disease-targeted probiotics.

Yesterday, the FDA took a major step toward officially approving Paxlovid. Catch up on this story and the other top COVID-19 news updates from the past week.

The FDA's Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee recommended approving Pfizer’s New Drug Application for Paxlovid to treat mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults at high risk of severe or fatal disease progression.

These investigators concluded Omicron XBB.1.5 the most successful COVID-19 variant of its lineage.

With this FDA emergency use authorization (EUA), all persons 6 months and older are now eligible to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech Omicron BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent booster.

This study analyzed concerns that a lack of time may lead primary care physicians to prescribe unnecessarily as a “quick fix.”

The risk of congenital heart diseases in offspring was increased among mothers with preconception previous hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.

COVID-19 patients had a significantly higher risk of cardiovascular disease and death in both the short- and long-term.

A 4-dose COVID-19 vaccine regimen and prior infection with either the BA.1 or BA.2 variants were extremely effective against the Omicron BA.5 subvariant.

58.5% of an infant’s microbiota composition is transferred by their mother.

The Omicron variant caused the most symptoms in pediatric patients. However, there were no differences in adverse outcomes by COVID-19 variant.

Nasal administration of the fully human anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody Foralumab modulated T cell inflammatory responses in COVID-19.

Enteric pathogens increase C difficile virulence by providing amino acids that shape the metabolic environment in the gut.

Use of early COVID-19 treatments did not reduce the risk of hospitalization or death, but did reduce long COVID symptoms after 3 months.

Children were hospitalized the most during the Omicron variant, but disease outcomes were the least severe during this variant period.

The most common reasons parents cited for hiding a child’s COVID-19 infection included an inability to stay home from work and wanting to make decisions about their child’s health without outside input from authorities.

“HIV reservoir dynamics are driven by local inflammation and gut dysbiosis,” the investigators concluded.

In the 12-month period following COVID-19 infection, long COVID patients had an excess death rate of 16.4 per 1000 individuals.