This week's infectious disease news spans a broad-spectrum carbapenem review, an expanding jalapeño-linked salmonella recall, the EU approval of Maviret for acute hepatitis C, and clinician backlash against President Trump's executive order reshaping the childhood vaccine schedule.
In the second part of the interview with Sharon Nachman, MD, she touches upon how the administration’s shared clinical decision-making category related to childhood vaccines will affect the hepatitis B and rotavirus vaccines and the expectations there will be subsequent disease increases.
Jason M. Goldman, MD, MACP, discusses the potentially damaging effects of the rhetoric coming from the presidential executive order including downstream consequences as well as his concerns around the prospective findings of the HHS Task Force on Safer Childhood Vaccines associated with it.
The presidential executive order changing the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine from a combination to a single-antigen vaccine means children will get more shots not less. Sharon Nachman, MD, offers some insights around the challenges of how the order’s latest changes could affect pediatric vaccine schedules.
The EU recently approved glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (Maviret), an eight-week direct-acting antiviral regimen, which offers people with hepatitis C the fastest treatment option available, giving European health systems a new tool in aiding the World Health Organization's goal of eliminating the virus by 2030.
The FDA has accepted EIT Pharma's new drug application for lonafarnib, an investigational oral therapy for chronic hepatitis D, supported by the phase 3 D-LIVR study, the largest clinical trial conducted to date in the disease.
FDA continues its investigation of a Salmonella outbreak spanning across 27 states, with a recall that has expanded to include products that have jalapeños and sold at major retailers.
President Trump signed an order spacing the timing of immunizations, limiting the number of vaccines, and changing the MMR vaccine by separating it into 3 single-antigen vaccines.
The European Commission has approved glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (Maviret) for acute hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, making it the only therapy approved in the European Union for both acute and chronic HCV and allowing clinicians to test and treat patients at the point of diagnosis. Mudra Kapoor, MD, discusses the phase 3 data and the treatment's potential role for greater HCV elimination.
An estimated 172,000 infants acquired hepatitis B virus through mother-to-child transmission in the WHO African region in 2022, and combining birth-dose vaccination with maternal antiviral prophylaxis could cut this burden by more than 86%. Peyton Thompson, MD, MSCR, discusses the barriers to eliminating vertical transmission of hepatitis B, and strategies to reduce the coverage gap.
Here is a brief clinical overview of the single-agent intravenous carbapenems available in the United States (ertapenem, meropenem, and imipenem-cilastatin) and the recently approved oral carbapenem tebipenem pivoxil.
International study estimates actual and optimal use of WHO AWaRe Access, Watch, and Reserve antibiotic classes in 186 countries and regions.
A food-safety roundup covers a growing multistate cyclosporiasis outbreak including thousands more reported sickened and 2 deaths tied to iceberg lettuce, a Salmonella Javiana outbreak with hundreds of cases across 27 states linked to jalapeño peppers served at Chipotle and QDOBA, and the US suspension of avocado inspections in Michoacan, Mexico.
The FDA has approved Moderna's influenza vaccine and set a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) date for Merck's RSV immunization product for expansion for a second season.
A phylodynamic analysis combining Arizona wild bird surveillance with national sequence data found the H5N1 D1.1 genotype spread in a stepwise pattern among adjacent US flyways during fall 2024, with limited direct exchange between the Pacific and Atlantic flyways.
A serologic study of patients in northwestern Italy found hantavirus antibodies in 7.3% of samples tested, with neutralization data suggesting Puumala virus as the likely infecting strain in a region where rodent-borne viral infections are rarely diagnosed.
A real-world analysis of the OPERA cohort found no HIV infections among 315 women using long-acting cabotegravir for PrEP, despite frequent short delays in maintenance injections, reinforcing the regimen's real-world effectiveness.
Week 96 data from the LATA trial show Cabenuva was superior to daily oral therapy in adolescents with HIV, while new real-world OPERA cohort data reinforce comparable effectiveness in adults, both presented at AIDS 2026.
An oral antiviral candidate blocked airborne and direct-contact transmission of a measles-like virus in ferrets, offering a potential new outbreak-control tool as US measles cases hit a 35-year high.
Atea Pharmaceuticals' bemnifosbuvir/ruzasvir combination met its primary endpoint of noninferiority to sofosbuvir/velpatasvir in the phase 3 C-BEYOND trial, achieving comparable cure rates for hepatitis C with as little as 8 weeks of treatment.
2026 clinical practice guidelines developed by the IDSA and ESCMID address risk stratification, diagnosis and management of S aureus bacteremia.
Several combination products are currently in development for people with HIV. Here is a review of these treatments.
Despite competing national crises drawing attention elsewhere, experts warn that the ongoing H5N1 avian influenza outbreak in birds, cattle, and humans in the United States highlights critical gaps in surveillance, worker protections, and pandemic preparedness that must be addressed to prevent a future pandemic.
FDA's acting deputy commissioner for food said the US food supply remains safe even as CDC-confirmed cyclosporiasis cases climbed past 11,000, while a new survey found nearly half of Americans don't trust the agency to manage the outbreak.
Sharon Nachman, MD, chief of pediatric infectious disease at Stony Brook Children's Hospital, explains why local resistance data, not just global forecasts, should drive today's empiric antibiotic choices in children.
A global surveillance study of more than 100,000 pediatric bacterial isolates found rising antimicrobial resistance across all regions from 2004 to 2022, with forecasts projecting continued increases in resistance to last-line antibiotics through 2035.
A Rutgers Health study in Health Affairs found substantial growth in long-acting injectable buprenorphine prescriptions for opioid use disorder from 2021 to 2024, but with sharp state-level disparities driven by Medicaid policy differences, with fewer than 1% of buprenorphine prescribed as injectable in some states versus nearly 13% in others.
Shionogi's XOCOVA (ensitrelvir) is now available in the United States as the first oral option to help prevent COVID-19 after exposure, following phase 3 SCORPIO-PEP trial data showing a 67% reduction in symptomatic infection risk.
Three concurrent studies identify T cell exhaustion and Th2 skewing as distinct immune phenotypes in disseminated coccidioidomycosis, with targeted immunomodulation producing dramatic clinical responses in patients who had failed standard antifungal therapy.
ViiV Healthcare's 2-drug Dovato regimen met its noninferiority end point against Gilead's 3-drug Biktarvy in the first head-to-head randomized trial comparing the 2 in treatment-naive adults with HIV.
