Contagion Spring 2026 Digital Edition

Recent urinary tract infection guideline updates from multiple international medical societies highlight evolving recommendations, including a major shift in classification, moving from anatomy- and risk factor–based definitions toward distinguishing localized from systemic infections.

Widespread antimicrobial use disrupts vital microbial communities that regulate Earth’s biogeochemical cycles, driving antimicrobial resistance, worsening human and environmental health, and significantly contributing to climate change.

New data from the PETERPEN trial suggest that piperacillin-tazobactam may be noninferior to meropenem for early clinical outcomes in select patients with ESBL bloodstream infections, but carbapenems remain the standard of care until final mortality results are available and fully analyzed.

In mid-May, as the world was still grappling with an unexpected hantavirus outbreak aboard a tourism vessel, news broke of an Ebola outbreak in the Ituri Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo spanning at least 3 health zones, including Bunia, Rwampara, and Mongbwalu.

North Carolina health officials confirmed two West Nile virus deaths among adults in the central part of the state, where CDC data show 11 human cases this season.

A 39-year-old unvaccinated Franklin County woman has died after a recent measles diagnosis. Nationally, numbers continue to increase and the US has passed 4,000 cases.

The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) recently held its respiratory season kick-off, which included the release of its annual respiratory disease survey. This year, the survey revealed the gap between vaccine support and uptake. Robert Hopkins Jr, MD, medical director of NFID delves deeper into the findings of the survey and the vaccine uptake challenges associated with certain immunizations.

Detection of the virulent neurotropic fungus Cladophialophora bantiana in clinical samples, primarily CNS tissue, increased four-fold in the period from 2023 to 2025.