Feature Channels: Infectious Diseases

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A concerning increase in global rates of severe invasive infections becoming resistant to key antibiotics has a team of infectious disease researchers at the Houston Methodist Research Institute studying a recently emerged strain of bacteria called Streptococcus dysgalactiae subspecies equisimilis (SDSE). SDSE infects humans via the skin, throat, gastrointestinal tract and female genital tract to cause infections ranging in severity from strep throat (pharyngitis) to necrotizing fasciitis (flesh-eating disease).

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Diane Griffin, MD, PhD, a pioneering infectious-disease virologist, scientific leader, and Johns Hopkins professor, died Monday. She was 84.

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Scientists investigating animal viruses with potential to infect humans have identified a critical protein that could enable spillover of a family of organisms called arteriviruses.

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In a landmark achievement for the fight against HIV, Sweden has attained the critical “95-95-95” target on the path to tackling the disease. Advanced bioinformatics modeling developed by a team from Los Alamos National Laboratory was deployed to track and verify the country’s progress toward the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and World Health Organization target.

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Mycoplasma pneumonia, commonly known as walking pneumonia, is spiking among kids in the U.S., according to the CDC. ...

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A research team at Iowa State University has found that zinc supplements may be an inexpensive, effective antidote to the growing health threat of antimicrobial resistance, potentially extending the effectiveness of today’s antibiotic arsenal against disease.

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A strain of H5N1 avian influenza virus found in a Texas dairy worker who was infected this spring was able to spread among ferrets through the air, although inefficiently, and killed 100% of infected animals in studies University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers performed with the strain earlier this year.

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Sojib Zaman, a health sciences professor at James Madison University, has been listed for a third consecutive year in Stanford/Elsevier's Top 2% Scientist rankings.

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Durante la pandemia de COVID, los medios informaron ampliamente que los pacientes negros tenían más probabilidades que los pacientes blancos de rechazar las vacunas, incluidas las vacunas contra la influenza y el COVID. Un nuevo estudio que se presentará en la Reunión Científica Anual del Colegio Americano de Alergia, Asma e Inmunología (ACAAI) de este año en Boston mostró que los pacientes que se identifican como no blancos tenían menos probabilidades de mostrar desconfianza en cuando a las vacunas que los pacientes que se identifican como blancos.

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Certain infectious diseases, such as COVID or the flu, evolve constantly, shapeshifting just enough to outmaneuver our immune systems and reinfect us repeatedly. But subsequent reinfections often don’t lead to the most severe outcomes—for very good reason. Upon first exposure to a pathogen, our immune systems churn out specially trained B cells, which have learned to identify and eliminate the virus.

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The U.S. is currently in the midst of yet another West Nile virus (WNV) outbreak, with the CDC documenting 880 cases across 46 states so far this year.

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Scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in collaboration with colleagues in the field, have developed an innovative antibody platform aimed at tackling one of the greatest challenges in treating rapidly evolving viruses like SARS-CoV-2: their ability to mutate and evade existing vaccines and therapies. Their findings, including preclinical studies in mice, introduce the Adaptive Multi-Epitope Targeting and Avidity-Enhanced (AMETA) Nanobody Platform, a new antibody approach for addressing how viruses like SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, evolve to evade vaccines and treatments. Details on the results were published October 23 in the journal Cell.

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Ecologist and academic Jacques Brodeur makes a compelling case for using biological pest control as a main line of defence against invasive non-native species.

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Pitch for effective protection for respiratory viruses

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Yale School of Medicine professors Erol Fikrig, MD, and Haifan Lin, PhD, have been elected to the National Academy of Medicine.

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A medida que se acerca la temporada de gripe, los expertos en enfermedades infecciosas de Cedars-Sinai urgen a todos los miembros de la comunidad, desde los bebés en adelante, a vacunarse contra la gripe.