Top Infectious Disease News Stories Week of February 22 - February 28

Measles Update: February 27, 2026

This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported there were 1,136* cases of measles in the US as of February 26, 2026. This is up substantially from this time last week, when the federal agency reported there was 982* confirmed cases.¹ Week-over week, that is an additional 154 cases and a 15.7% increase. This marks a significant increase in the number of cases from the previous week that saw a 7.9% increase in cases the week ending (February 20).

Clinical Insights Around Treating Measles

Patricia A Stinchfield, RN, MS, CPNP, past-president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID), has treated measles outbreaks and talks about the transmissibility of the respiratory disease.

“Measles is the greatest combination of the worst things you can think of in viral infections. It's sneaky; it looks like every other infectious disease of a young child—runny nose, cough, fever, until that rash occurs. They're contagious during that time, and that's one of the biggest problems with measles and why it spreads. It's extremely contagious,” Stinchfield said. “If you were to walk into a room of 10 people, none of whom were vaccinated, and someone came in with measles and just breathed—you don't have to have major coughing, just breathing in that airspace—9 of those 10 people will get measles.”

Switching to Bictegravir-Lenacapavir Combination Maintains HIV Virologic Suppression in Patients With Complex Regimens

Some individuals with HIV have not had the ability to be on a single-tablet regimen (STR) due to various reasons, including developing treatment resistance, comorbidities, or drug interactions. These challenges often arise in a large group of older patients who have had HIV for many years, points out Chloe Orkin, MD, MSc, professor at Queen Mary University of London.

“In many cases, these are people who were diagnosed early on in the HIV epidemic and they've been through all of the treatment regimens, and therefore, they've developed resistance,” Orkin said. “Many of these people in this situation who are taking complex regimens [CRs] are older, and so far, none of the single-tablet regimens have been suitable for these individuals.”

Doravirine/Islatravir Combination Maintains Virologic Suppression Through 96 Weeks

A double-blind phase 3 study evaluated the long-term efficacy and safety of switching adults with HIV-1 with virological suppression from bictegravir/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide (BIC/FTC/TAF) to the 2-drug regimen of doravirine (DOR) and the investigational agent islatravir (ISL). The trial enrolled adults with HIV-1 RNA of less than 50 copies/mL for at least 3 months, adequate CD4-positive T-cell counts, and no history of treatment failure or known DOR resistance.

Participants were randomly assigned 2:1 to switch to DOR/ISL 100 mg/0.25 mg or to continue BIC/FTC/TAF, with week 96 virologic and safety outcomes assessed as secondary end points following previously reported noninferior results at week 48.

Long-Acting Injectable VH-499 Shows Favorable Safety and PK Profile in Early Study

VH4011499 (VH-499) is a next-generation HIV-1 capsid inhibitor being developed as a long-acting antiretroviral therapy, building on prior proof-of-concept data showing rapid and potent antiviral activity with oral dosing. New findings from an ongoing first-in-human phase 1 trial now evaluate the safety and pharmacokinetics of an injectable formulation designed to support long-acting (LA) dosing. In this randomized, double-blind (sponsor-unblinded) study, participants without HIV received single ascending doses of VH-499 administered either intramuscularly (IM) or subcutaneously (SC), with the goal of assessing tolerability and drug exposure over time.

Across six treatment groups, 48 participants received VH-499 or placebo, with a median age of 36 years and a demographically diverse cohort. Overall, VH-499 was well tolerated, with no serious adverse events or study withdrawals due to safety concerns. Most adverse events were mild to moderate, and treatment-related events were primarily injection site reactions, most commonly pain, which resolved within one to three days. Injection site reactions occurred more frequently with SC administration than IM, but remained transient and low grade across all dose levels.