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|Articles|December 9, 2022

This Week’s Infectious Disease Breaking News

Author(s)Nina Cosdon

It was a week marked by significant FDA decisions and COVID-19 treatment updates.

This week's top stories revolved around COVID-19 and potentially promising treatments. However, there were also some breaking FDA decisions.

COVID-19 Mutations Render All Monoclonal Antibody Treatments Ineffective

The last available COVID-19 monoclonal antibody, bebtelovimab, is now no longer authorized due to suspected inability to neutralize the most dominant COVID-19 variants, Omicron BQ.1.1 and BQ.1.

Did Overuse of Antibiotics Drive Secondary Infection in COVID-19 Patients?

COVID-19 hospital patients were prescribed 21.81% more antibiotics than patients without COVID-19. How did this affect their risk of coinfection?

Vitamin D Supplementation Appears to Offer Protective Benefits Against COVID-19

A new report finds veterans who took vitamin D supplements were less likely to get COVID-19 and less likely to die within 30 days of infection.

Looking Beyond C difficile: The Potential of the Gut Microbiome

Dr. Elizabeth Garner speculates the FDA approval of RBX2660 for recurrent C difficile infection will pave the way for more restorative microbiome therapies.

Shedding Light on Improvements in COVID-19 Inpatient Outcomes Over Time

A new study examining COVID-19 outcomes over time found evidence supporting the use of dexamethasone and raised concerns about using nonconcurrent controls in large platform trials.

FDA Authorizes Bivalent COVID-19 Vaccines for Children Down to 6 Months of Age

With an already overwhelming respiratory virus season with RSV and influenza, the hope is to prevent COVID-19 with these vaccines available to younger pediatric populations.

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