Louisiana Surgeon General Advocates Personal Choice for Vaccinations, With Limited Discussions Around Immunizations
The Louisiana Surgeon General, Ralph Abraham, MD, is advocating for autonomy over one’s body and that the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) will no longer be publicly promoting vaccination, but rather saying it is a discussion between people and their providers.1 Abraham told the LDH staff to not encourage vaccines, and LDH will no longer […]
Top 5 Infectious Disease News Stories Week of February 8-15
Five All-Oral Regimens Show Efficacy in the Phase 3 endTB Trial for Rifampin-Resistant TB A Phase 3 trial has shown that five all-oral regimens, administered over 9 months, are as effective as the standard 18-24 month treatment for fluoroquinolone-susceptible, rifampin-resistant tuberculosis (RR-TB). The trial demonstrated that four of the regimens, including combinations of bedaquiline, clofazimine, […]
FDA Approves GSK’s Penmenvy Vaccine Targeting Meningococcal Serogroups A, B, C, W, and Y
GSK is a biopharma company focused on developing medicines and vaccines to address health challenges. GSK plc announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Penmenvy (Meningococcal Groups A, B, C, W, and Y Vaccine) for individuals aged 10 through 25 years. This vaccine is designed to protect against five major serogroups […]
FDA Approves Bavarian Nordic’s Chikungunya Vaccine or Those 12 and Older
Bavarian Nordic is a vaccine company focused on developing and manufacturing vaccines for infectious diseases. Bavarian Nordic received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Vimkunya chikungunya vaccine for individuals aged 12 and older. The vaccine, the first virus-like particle (VLP) single-dose vaccine for chikungunya, was approved based on phase 3 […]
Navigating Clinical Trust Amid Political Shifts
Recent changes in US health policy have raised serious concerns within the global health community. In a recent Lancet correspondence, Su H Wang, MD, FACP, MPH, and fellow clinicians and public health experts highlighted the alarming impact of the US administration’s decisions to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO), halt vital CDC communications, and […]
US Health Policy Changes Threaten Global Public Health Cooperation
Recent changes in US health policy have raised serious concerns within the global health community. In a recent Lancet correspondence, Su H Wang, MD, FACP, MPH, and fellow clinicians and colleagues from the public health community came together and highlighted the alarming impact of the US administration’s decisions to withdraw from the World Health Organization […]
Investigational E coli Vaccine Does Not ‘Demonstrate Sufficient Efficacy’ in Phase 3 Study
Image credit: Karolina Grabowska, Pexels An independent data monitoring committee (IDMC) determined that the Sanofi and Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine candidate for extraintestinal pathogenic E coli was not sufficiently effective at preventing invasive E coli disease (IED) compared to placebo. No safety signals related to the vaccine candidate were identified.1 “We are disappointed to see that the vaccine was […]
Global Spread of the LP.8.1 SARS-CoV-2 Variant
Kei Sato, PhD Image credits: Loop The LP.8.1 variant of SARS-CoV-2, a descendant of the JN.1 lineage, has been spreading rapidly across the globe, exhibiting notable mutations in its spike protein. As of December 2024, the variant’s relative effective reproduction number (Re) is slightly higher than that of XEC, although transmission dynamics vary between countries […]
Could Inoculum Effect in Staph Endocarditis Affect Choice of Antibiotic?
Produced by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), under a magnification of 20,000X, this digitally colorized, scanning electron microscopic (SEM) image, depicts a number of mustard-colored, spheroid shaped, Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, that were in the process of attempting to escape their destruction by blue-colored, human white blood cells (WBCs). Image credit: Frank […]
Insects May Aid Spread of Fluconazole-Resistant Candida auris
Carlien Pohl-Albertyn, PhD Image credits: University of the Free State A study on the South African brown locust (Locustana pardalina) suggests that insects may play a role in the spread of the pathogenic yeast Candida auris (C auris). The researchers isolated three strains of C auris from the locusts, one of which showed resistance to […]
