How to Address Zika Concerns

Karen B. Jacobson, MD, MPH, of Kaiser Permanente Northern California, presented data at IDWeek 2026 showing 58.2% of children younger than five years exposed to active hepatitis B in the home were exposed by someone other than their birth mother, a risk maternal screening alone would miss under the CDC’s revised birth dose recommendation.

In the phase 3b ENCORE trial, adding amikacin liposome inhalation suspension (ALIS) to azithromycin and ethambutol significantly improved culture conversion in newly diagnosed MAC lung disease, while treatment-emergent amikacin (2.2%) and macrolide (1.1%) resistance stayed rare. Kevin Winthrop, MD, provides insights around the study.

Projected disease burden from declining childhood vaccine coverage shows increases in vaccine-preventable diseases. Benjamin Lopman, PhD, provides insights on how VaxImpactMap works and the potential long-term disease consequences of decreased immunization rates.

After 2 adults died of West Nile virus in central North Carolina this month, this FAQ explains how the mosquito-borne virus spreads, who faces the greatest risk of severe neuroinvasive disease, and how clinicians can diagnose, manage, and help prevent infection when no vaccine or antiviral treatment exists.

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.

UTI guidelines are moving away from complicated or uncomplicated infections to localized or systemic classification terminologies. Guidelines author Zachary Nelson, PharmD, MPH, BCIDP, provides further insights on the changes including applying antibiograms, potential costs, and whether clinicians will embrace these new classifications.

Kenya reported its first imported Bundibugyo Ebola death as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) outbreak surpassed 8,600 confirmed cases and 4,148 deaths, with 896 patients hospitalized in isolation. Here is a report on the latest numbers as well as vaccine and therapeutic study updates.

FDA-cleared single-step immunoblot tests built on recombinant antigens from multiple Borrelia species detected nearly twice as many early Lyme disease cases as standard 2-tier testing. Joseph J. Burrascano Jr, MD, offers insights into what the new tests mean for clinicians.