Top Infectious Disease News Stories Week of December 13 - December 19

Emory Healthcare: Melding Critical Care, Infectious Diseases, and Disaster Preparedness Together

We are continuing our new series, Media Day, where we spotlight individual medical institutions and their infectious disease (ID) programs. This episode profiles Emory Healthcare. When people think of Ebola or other diseases or viruses that are considered high-consequence infectious diseases (HCID) they often think of movie scenarios where clinicians are completely covered in personal protective equipment and wearing face masks with ventilators to keep themselves protected from airborne viruses, and it happening in countries outside the US. Emory Healthcare brought in patients with Ebola virus disease to treat at their facilities in 2014, becoming the first US hospital institution to do so. At a time when little was known about caring for these patients, the university's Serious Communicable Diseases Unit (SCDU) successfully treated these patients, and in turn, created protocols of care that are now the standard when caring for patients with deadly infections.¹

Sequencing Syphilis Genomes in the Quest to Develop a Global Vaccine

The sexually transmitted infection, syphilis, has seen a global resurgence. In the US, there were 207,255 cases in 2022 according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), more than any time since the 1950s. Neonates, some of them stillborn, made up 3,755 of those cases. Internationally, other countries are seeing an upward trend as well.¹ Work around prevention, specifically a syphilis vaccine, would be an ideal solution to this global problem. One of the biggest challenges, however, is the Treponema pallidum (TPA) bacteria that causes syphilis, according to Jonathan Parr, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at UNC.

Public Health Wake-Up Call: Will the US Lose Measles Elimination Status?

The US faces a critical deadline in January 2026 to prove it has stopped measles transmission and could lose its elimination status if large outbreaks linked to ongoing cases (like those from the Texas outbreak) aren't definitively stopped and a 12-month period of no local spread is achieved. Following a surge in 2025 cases, including linked outbreaks in Texas, Arizona, and South Carolina, health officials are concerned that declining vaccination rates and continued spread might lead to this loss, mirroring Canada's recent loss of status, though countries can regain it.¹

Single-Tablet Regimen of Bictegravir and Lenacapavir for HIV Meets Primary End Point in Phase 3 Study

Gilead Sciences has announced positive topline results from its phase 3 ARTISTRY-2 trial evaluating an investigational fixed-dose combination of bictegravir 75 mg and lenacapavir 50 mg (BIC/LEN) in adults with HIV who were virologically suppressed on bictegravir 50 mg/emtricitabine 200 mg/tenofovir alafenamide 25 mg tablets (B/F/TAF; Biktarvy). The multicenter, double-blind study met its primary end point, showing that switching to BIC/LEN was statistically noninferior to continuing B/F/TAF in maintaining viral suppression at week 48.¹

Caring Holistically: NYU Langone’s Approach to Pediatric Infectious Disease

We are continuing our new series, Media Day, where we spotlight individual medical institutions and their infectious disease (ID) programs. This episode profiles NYU Langone. The Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases in NYU Langone Health’s Department of Pediatrics, faculty and fellows provide clinical care to children with infectious diseases. They care for patients at Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone, Fink Children’s Ambulatory Care Center, NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital, and NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue.¹ The division also provides fellowship training and education through its Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education–accredited program and medical student electives. Trainees have opportunities to learn about clinical care for families and young adults affected by a wide range of infectious diseases and immunodeficiencies.¹