Feature Channels: Infectious Diseases

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Along with vaccines, masks, and testing, indoor air hygiene and building engineering controls will be key to slowing the spread of airborne, highly infectious variants of COVID-19. In a recent review in the journal Indoor Air, researchers at Berkeley Lab presented a thorough review of the state of the science for several key strategies to reduce airborne infection risk using building controls – ventilation, filtration, airflow management and disinfection by germicidal ultraviolet (UV) light.

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A comprehensive analysis of federal data by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis shows people who have had COVID-19 are at an elevated risk of developing neurological conditions within the first year after infection. Movement disorders, memory problems, strokes and seizures are among the complications.

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National Comprehensive Cancer Network Advisory Committee on COVID-19 Vaccination and Pre-exposure Prophylaxis details clarified expert consensus to help guide providers on latest data and information, available at NCCN.org/covid-19.

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A McMaster University-led has found that most people infected with the SARS-CoV2 virus recover within 12 months, irrespective of the severity.

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It may be the most baffling quirk of COVID: What manifests as minor, flu-like symptoms in some individuals spirals into severe disease, disability, and even death in others.

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A national team of scientists, led by researchers at UC San Diego, have created a machine-learning algorithm for diagnosing both MIS-C and Kawasaki disease, two similar pediatric inflammatory conditions with different treatments.

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Mosquitoes that spread Zika, dengue and yellow fever are guided toward their victims by a scent from human skin. The exact composition of that scent has not been identified until now.

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LJI research shows that a "slow delivery, escalating dose" vaccination strategy can prompt B cells to spend months mutating and evolving their pathogen-fighting antibodies.

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Researchers in Germany have discovered that age-dependent impairments in antiviral interferon proteins underlie the increased susceptibility of older patients to severe COVID-19. The study, published today in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), shows that aged mice infected with SARS-CoV-2 are protected from severe disease by treatment with one of these interferons, IFN-γ.

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The National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center (NPDPSC) at Case Western Reserve University will receive up to $20 million in funding as part of a grant renewal from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to better understand how and why prion diseases––degenerative brain conditions found in both humans and animals—develop and spread.

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COVID-19 infection increases the risk of potentially life-threatening blood clots for at least 49 weeks, according to a new study of health records of 48 million unvaccinated adults from the first wave of the pandemic.

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A new service at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is providing comprehensive care for children with a debilitating post-COVID condition. Some teens can’t get back to the sports they love. Other children can no longer get through a school day—or even walk up a flight of stairs. Still others feel “off”—and anxious and depressed, too.

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White-tailed deer are heavily overpopulated along the East Coast of the U.S., and they play an important role in spreading and supporting tick populations that transmit diseases like Lyme disease and anaplasmosis.

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“But what we’re seeing now is that the placenta is vulnerable to COVID-19, and the infection changes the way the placenta works, and that in turn is likely to impact the development of the fetus,” Dr. Kristina Adams Waldorf said.

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The Center for Disease Control’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases has awarded University Hospitals of Cleveland a sizable grant to support its assignment as a study site in the United States Flu Vaccine Effectiveness Network.

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A genomic test being developed by a Charlottesville, Va., company can predict a patient’s risk of developing severe COVID-19, new research from UVA Health suggests.

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The UCLA Clinical AIDS Research and Education (CARE) Center today announced its participation in STOMP (Study of Tecovirimat for Human Monkeypox Virus), or A5418, a phase 3, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of tecovirimat for the treatment of human monkeypox. STOMP, which is being led by the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG), has been designed to learn as much as possible in a broad population of people with monkeypox.

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What organism on the CDC's bioterrorism watch list poses the most risk? You might be surprised. Biologist Jeff Foster says it's Brucella—dangerous because of just how prevalent it is worldwide.

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A research team funded by the National Institutes of Health has shown that commercially available rapid antigen tests can detect past and present variants of concern and has identified potential mutations that may impact test performance in the future.

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A study assessed resident physicians’ perceptions, coping strategies and self-reported levels of depression, anxiety and stress experienced during the early phase of the pandemic. Results showed that 88.1 percent felt they were likely or very likely to become infected with COVID-19. If infected, 28.8 percent felt that their illness would be serious or very serious. With respect to depression, anxiety and stress, all the mean scores were in the normal range. For depression, residents in emergency medicine and surgery reported higher levels. The top three coping strategies included acceptance, self-distraction, and use of emotional support. The three least used strategies included behavioral disengagement, substance use and denial.

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Both an advisory from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and a new study encourage pregnant or lactating individuals to receive the latest COVID booster.

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A lack of relatable messaging around HIV diagnoses and prevention could be a reason infection rates aren’t falling among young adults, despite dramatic decreases among all other demographics. With a $4.9 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, Florida State University behavioral scientist Sylvie Naar hopes to change that.

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Sarah Knight, MD, Primary Care, Internal Medicine at Ochsner Health shares tips for staying healthy this flu season.

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Does COVID-19 infection affect people with epilepsy differently? Are people with epilepsy less likely to get vaccinated? A session at the European Epilepsy Congress in July 2022 covered these topics, and more.

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Current vaccination strategies are unlikely to eliminate measles, according to a new study led by faculty at the University of Georgia. The paper, which published today in The Lancet Global Health, explores the feasibility of eliminating measles and rubella using predominant vaccination strategies in 93 countries with the highest disease burden.

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The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA has been awarded a $13.6 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to continue to study the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines and the long-term impact of infection among U.S. health care workers. The new yearlong grant project follows the 2020–21 Preventing Emerging Infections Through Vaccine Effectiveness Testing study, or PREVENT I, which was among the first to demonstrate the real-world benefit of mRNA vaccines in preventing symptomatic infection following their authorization by the Food and Drug Administration.

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Scientists solve mystery of how Zika virus targets key immune cell. New finding shed light on how to stop virus from spreading.

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Despite recent claims on social media, the UK government has not changed its position on pregnant or breastfeeding women getting the COVID booster. The NHS says the vaccine is both safe and strongly recommended for this group.

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An interdisciplinary team of doctors and engineers are working to develop a diagnostic test to detect severe COVID-19 complications.

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The latest research and expert commentary on pain management.

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Los investigadores del Centro para Medicina Personalizada en Mayo Clinic descubrieron en el genoma humano firmas decisivas que podrían explicar por qué la COVID-19 es tan grave en algunas personas y leve en otras.

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Being vaccinated with at least two doses of Pfizer vaccines dramatically reduces most of the long-term symptoms individuals reported months after contracting COVID-19, a new study shows.

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Baumgarth is known for efforts to understand host responses to Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease via the bite of infected blacklegged ticks.