Top Infectious Disease News Stories Week of April 26 - May 2

Less Could Be More With Antibiotics for Community-Acquired Pneumonia

Patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) who are clinically stable after three days of antibiotics could do as well with discontinuing or extending the regimen for several days, according to a target trial emulation assessing real-world outcomes.¹

"The short- and longer course antibiotic treatment groups had similar mortality rates, and there was little difference in benefits and harms," report study lead author George Doumat, MD, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, TX, and colleagues.

Combining Technology and Novel Educator Touchpoints to Enable Greater Hepatitis C Screening

Hepatitis C continues to pose a major public health challenge in the United States, with millions of individuals living with chronic infection. One of the biggest challenges is that many individuals remain undiagnosed due to low screening rates and the disease’s often silent progression. As health systems look for ways to improve detection and linkage to care, new approaches that combine technology with patient-centered outreach are gaining traction.

Pruthvi Patel, MD MPH, associate professor of medicine, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, emphasizes the urgency of improving screening and treatment uptake, particularly given the availability of highly effective therapies.

Professional Medical Organizations Leading the Vaccine Fight Against the Federal Government

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr has been trying to remake US vaccine policy, restricting access to immunizations. Most notably, he has done this by firing all previous Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) members and replacing them with new members who have antivaccine views. The ACIP has been making recommendations to confuse the public on vaccine guidance, change previous recommendations, and plant seeds of doubt about vaccine utility.

Last summer, in response to the ACIP’s actions, the American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Physicians (ACP), and other professional medical organizations filed a lawsuit against Secretary Kennedy for “acting arbitrarily and capriciously when he unilaterally changed COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for children and pregnant people.”¹

ACIP Charter Changes Move Focus Away From Prevention and Value of Vaccines

In April, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a significantly revised ACIP charter. In effect, this action changes how the committee operates and provides greater power to the current administration.

In opposition to this, the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) was one of more than 130 organizations that issued a statement opposing the charter change.

Contagion Survey: We Need Your Feedback

We have launched a new audience survey aimed at better understanding the needs, preferences, and challenges of our readership. The initiative reflects a growing recognition that meaningful engagement with health care professionals, researchers, and stakeholders is essential to delivering timely and valuable content.

By inviting readers to share their perspectives, Contagion is taking an important step toward ensuring its reporting aligns with the realities faced on the front lines of infectious disease. Feedback collected through the survey will help identify gaps in coverage, highlight emerging topics of interest, and refine how information is delivered to maximize impact.

Understanding an audience is particularly critical in a field as rapidly evolving as infectious diseases, where new data, treatments, and public health threats constantly reshape the landscape. Surveys provide a direct line of communication, allowing readers to voice what matters most to them, whether it is clinical insights, policy updates, or real-world case experiences.

To fill out the survey, interested participants can go here.