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FDA Approves Moderna’s mRNA RSV Vaccine For Older Adults

Reuters (5/31, Wingrove) reported the FDA “approved Moderna’s respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine, the company announced on Friday, giving it a shot at much-needed new revenue from a second product.” The vaccination “was approved for the prevention of RSV-associated lower respiratory tract disease in adults aged 60 or older, but with a label indicating the shot was 79% effective at preventing at least two symptoms of RSV, such as cough and fever,” even though the company “had filed for FDA approval in July on data from a late-stage trial that showed its vaccine was 84% effective at preventing those symptoms.” The Hill (5/31, Choi) reported, “The approval makes RSV the second disease for which an mRNA vaccine has been greenlighted. There are two other RSV vaccines approved for adults older than 60: Arexvy by GSK and Abrysvo by Pfizer. Moderna’s mRESVIA is now the third shot added to the arsenal against RSV.” CNN (5/31, Christensen) also reported.

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Another Michigan Dairy Worker Infected With Avian Flu, CDC Says

The Washington Post (5/30, Roubein) reports, “Another Michigan dairy worker has been infected with a highly virulent bird flu, marking the third human case since the bird flu was detected in dairy cattle this spring but the first to report symptoms of respiratory illness.” The patient “reported having a cough and eye discomfort with watery discharge, and received an antiviral treatment, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.” The worker “is isolating at home and symptoms are resolving, the agency said.” The AP (5/30, Aleccia, Stobbe) reports this is “the third human case associated with an outbreak in U.S. dairy cows, health officials said Thursday.” Previously, in March, “a farmworker in Texas was diagnosed in what officials called the first known instance globally of a person catching this version of bird flu from a mammal,” and “last week, Michigan officials announced the first case there.” NBC News (5/30, Edwards) reports neither of the previous two cases involved respiratory symptoms. At this point, “there is no evidence that the virus, an A strain of influenza called H5N1, is spreading from person to person, the CDC said. The infected workers are from different farms and had direct contact with sick cows.”

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More Than 7M Dengue Cases Reported In Americas So Far In 2024, Surpassing All Of Last Year, WHO Says

Reuters (5/30, Santhosh) reports, “Dengue cases have substantially increased in the Americas this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday, which indicates the mosquito-borne viral illness remains a high-risk threat to public health.” The organization “said the number of cases in the Americas exceeded 7 million by the end of April, already surpassing the annual high of 4.6 million in 2023.” This compares to “over 7.6 million dengue cases and about 3,000 deaths...reported globally during the same period.”

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Patients With HIV And Low-Level Viremia May Be At Increased Risk For Severe Non-AIDS Events, Study Finds

Infectious Disease Advisor (5/30, Nye) reports, “Patients with HIV infection who have low-level viremia may be at increased risk for severe non-AIDS events, according to study results published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.” The study found that “compared with patients who remained virologically suppressed, the risk for severe non-AIDS events was higher for those with at least 1 episode of low-level viremia (hazard ratio [HR], 1.31; 95% CI, 1.22-1.41) or high levels of low-level viremia (HR, 1.57; 95% CI, 1.46-1.70) and for those who experienced virologic failure (HR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.67-1.82).”

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Sherlock Bio Launches Clinical Trial Testing Rapid OTC STI Test

Reuters (5/30, Satija) reports, “Sherlock Bio said on Thursday it had begun a trial of its over-the-counter rapid test for detecting sexually transmitted infections (STI) such as chlamydia and gonorrhea, and aims to launch it by mid-2025.” The company “expects to become the first to launch a prescription-free rapid test for the infections, which affected 2.3 million people in the United States in 2022.” Sherlock “plans to recruit 2,500 sexually active volunteers at 20 study sites across the United States to test the accuracy of its CRISPR-based test compared to commonly used lab tests for chlamydia and gonorrhea.”

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CDC Says Guillain-Barre Syndrome “More Common Than Expected” Among Older Adults Who Receive RSV Vaccine

The AP (5/30, Stobbe) reports that instances of Guillain-Barre syndrome “were ‘more common than expected’ in older U.S. adults who got the new RSV vaccines, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Thursday that’s similar to what the organization said earlier this year.” Nonetheless, “government officials still say the benefits of the shots still outweigh the risks.” The FDA and CDC “say they’re evaluating any risks, but do not plan to change their recommendation for the RSV shots, which is that patients 60 and older should talk to their doctor and then decide whether to be vaccinated.”

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Vast Majority Of Patients Infected With Chickenpox In New York City Outbreak Were Unvaccinated, Report Says

ABC News (5/30, Kekatos) says, “Nearly all the patients affected by an ongoing chickenpox outbreak in New York City are unvaccinated, according to a report published Thursday.” First observed by health authorities in October 2022, the outbreak “was found to be among people who recently migrated from or through central and South America and lived in a shelter or residential facility.” The report, co-authored by the CDC and New York City officials, found that “between September 2022 and March 2024, 873 people who tested positive for chickenpox were linked to the outbreak, according to the report.” Of those, “91.9% had no documentation of receiving a chickenpox vaccine prior to the beginning of symptoms. Data showed 6.8% received at least one dose and just 1.4% had received two doses.”

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Updated Monovalent XBB.1.5 COVID-19 Vaccines Effective Against Omicron Subvariants, But Effectiveness Wanes Over Time, Study Finds

MedPage Today (5/29, Kahn) reports, “The updated monovalent XBB.1.5 COVID-19 vaccines were effective against Omicron subvariants circulating during the most recent respiratory virus season, but their effectiveness waned over time, according to a brief report.” The three vaccines developed by Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech and Novavax “were 66.8% effective against hospitalization at 4 weeks, decreasing to 57.1% after 10 weeks, wrote” researchers in the New England Journal of Medicine. Additionally, “data appeared to point to lower effectiveness against infection, hospitalization, and death after the arrival of the JN.1 subvariant, the dominant strain in the U.S. through the end of March of this year.”

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Four-Dose Regimen Of 20-Valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine Elicits Robust Immunity In Healthy Infants, Study Finds

Infectious Disease Advisor (5/29, Nye) reports, “A 4-dose series of the 20-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine elicits a robust serotype-specific immune response and is well tolerated among healthy infants, according to study results published in The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.” In the study, “at 1 month after dose 3, the percentages of patients with prespecified IgG concentrations for 8 of the 13 matched serotypes were noninferior to the percentages for the corresponding serotypes in the 13-valent vaccine group. The responses to serotypes 1, 4, 9V, and 23F failed to reach noninferiority by small margins.” Patients then “showed substantial IgG boosting responses after receipt of dose 4 relative to those observed before dose 4 and after dose 3.”

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Among Patients With Cancer And Invasive Fungal Infections, Hypoalbuminemia Linked To Increased Risk Of Subtherapeutic Posaconazole Plasma Levels, Study Finds

Infectious Disease Advisor (5/29) reports, “In patients with cancer receiving delayed-release posaconazole for the treatment of invasive fungal infections (IFIs), hypoalbuminemia is associated with increased risk for subtherapeutic posaconazole plasma levels, according to findings published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.” In the study, “an ideal body weight at or above 60 kg and hypoalbuminemia (albumin, ≤3 g/dL) were significantly associated with subtherapeutic posaconazole levels.”

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Health Officials Say Traveler From Germany Carried Measles Through LAX Earlier This Month

The Los Angeles Times (5/29, Sholklapper) reports, “A traveler carrying measles flew from Munich, Germany, through Los Angeles on the way to Fresno Yosemite International Airport this month, exposing thousands of California travelers to the highly infectious disease, health officials have confirmed.” Public health officials “confirmed the case late Monday, bringing the total number of measles cases documented in California to nine for the year.” Currently, “no associated infections have been reported.”

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Questionnaire Can Successfully Identify Patients With STIs At Low Risk For Penicillin Allergy, Study Finds

Healio (5/28, Stulpin) reports, “Researchers found that a questionnaire successfully identified patients with STIs who can be safely evaluated for penicillin allergy by skin test or by a two-step graded oral challenge, according to a study” published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Researchers wrote, “In STI clinic settings with low-risk patients, using a two-step graded oral challenge is a feasible, acceptable, and effective way to de-label patients reporting penicillin allergy and provide a pathway to improving patient care and antibiotic stewardship.”

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Racial Discrimination In Midlife May Contribute To Greater Alzheimer Disease Pathology And Neurodegeneration In Later Life Among Black Americans, Study Finds

Neurology Advisor (5/28, Nye) reports, “Racial discrimination in midlife could contribute to greater Alzheimer disease (AD) pathology and neurodegeneration in later life among Black Americans, according to study results.” Investigators “conducted a systematic review to assess the extent to which exposure to racial discrimination during middle age predicts increases in the biomarkers of AD and neurodegeneration later in life.” The researchers found that “the experience of discrimination in midlife was related with changes in serum phosphorylated tau181 (p-tau181), neurofilament light (NfL), and glial fibrillary acid protein (GFAP) between 2008 and 2019.” The findings were published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia.

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Cytomegalovirus Seroprevalence Increases With Age, Higher In Women, Study Finds

Infectious Disease Advisor (5/28, Chan) reports, “Cytomegalovirus (CMV) seroprevalence increases with age and is higher in women than in men in both the United States and Canada, according to study findings published in the Journal of Medical Virology.” In the study, “overall, estimated CMV seroprevalence in the US was higher in women than in men and increased with age: 18 to ˂20 years: women, 49%; men, 41.6%; 40 to ˂42 years: women, 63%; men, 51.5%; 84 to ˂86 years: women 94.5%; men, 81.6%.”

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Warmer, Wetter Weather Boosts Dengue Fever Risk In US

NBC News (5/28, Martin, Sullivan, Thompson) reports the El Niño weather pattern has led to a warmer, wetter summer in the US, creating ideal conditions for the dengue-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to thrive and expand northward in the US. Dengue fever outbreaks now occur annually, according to CDC dengue fever researcher Dr. Gabriela Paz-Bailey, rather than every three to four years historically.

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US, EU Officials Looking Into Vaccinating Farm Workers Against H5N1

Reuters (5/27, Steenhuysen, Rigby) reports, “The United States and Europe are taking steps to acquire or manufacture H5N1 bird flu vaccines that could be used to protect at-risk poultry and dairy workers, veterinarians and lab technicians, government officials said, moves influenza experts say could curb the threat of a pandemic.” US authorities “last week said they were moving bulk vaccine from CSL Seqirus that closely matches the current virus into finished shots that could provide 4.8 million doses of vaccine.” Meanwhile, “European health officials told Reuters they were in talks to acquire CSL’s prepandemic vaccine.”

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Infants Born During Spring, Summer Months More Likely To Have RSV In First Season, Study Finds

Healio (5/24, Weldon) reported, “Infants born during spring and summer months are the most likely to have a first-season medically attended case of respiratory syncytial virus, according to a study published in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.” Lead researcher Jason R. Gantenberg, PhD, said, “Generally, we found that infants born from February through April – that is, born as the respiratory season wanes – had the lowest risk of medically attended RSV during their first season.”

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Prediabetes, Diabetes Common Among Patients With HIV Infection, Study Finds

Infectious Disease Advisor (5/24, Nye) reported, “Prediabetes and diabetes are common among patients with HIV infection and can be sufficiently identified via fasting blood glucose or hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C) screening, according to study results published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.” In the study, “dysglycemia was associated with older age, higher BMI, and more advanced HIV status before antiretroviral therapy initiation, while diabetes was associated with older age, higher BMI, Ethiopian origin, HIV disease duration, and lower CD4+ nadir.”

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Uptick In US COVID-19 Cases Possible This Summer, Though Few Public Health Resources Will Go To Prevention

The Washington Post (5/26, A1, Nirappil, Malhi) reported that it “is as familiar as sunscreen hitting the shelves: Americans are headed into another summer with new coronavirus variants and a likely uptick in cases.” This “is shaping up to be the first covid wave with barely any federal pressure to limit transmission and little data to even declare a surge.” The public health establishment “no longer treats covid as a top priority.” While “the CDC and health authorities continue to promote the coronavirus vaccine, last updated in fall 2023 for a subvariant no longer in circulation, as the best form of protection against the disease,” just “23 percent of adults have received a dose of the latest vaccine, the CDC estimates.”

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WHO Report Details “Major” Increase In STIs In 2022

According to Healio (5/24, Feller), “WHO reported a ‘major’ increase in STIs in 2022, specifically highlighting an increase in syphilis and an insufficient decline in new HIV and viral hepatitis infections.” The report found “four curable STIs – chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and trichomoniasis – account for more than 1 million infections globally every day. Cases of syphilis among people aged 15 to 49 years increased by more than a million worldwide in 2022, reaching eight million infections, according to the WHO report.”

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FDA Approves Moderna’s mRNA RSV Vaccine For Older Adults

Another Michigan Dairy Worker Infected With Avian Flu, CDC Says

More Than 7M Dengue Cases Reported In Americas So Far In 2024, Surpassing All Of Last Year, WHO Says

Patients With HIV And Low-Level Viremia May Be At Increased Risk For Severe Non-AIDS Events, Study Finds

Sherlock Bio Launches Clinical Trial Testing Rapid OTC STI Test

CDC Says Guillain-Barre Syndrome “More Common Than Expected” Among Older Adults Who Receive RSV Vaccine

Vast Majority Of Patients Infected With Chickenpox In New York City Outbreak Were Unvaccinated, Report Says

Updated Monovalent XBB.1.5 COVID-19 Vaccines Effective Against Omicron Subvariants, But Effectiveness Wanes Over Time, Study Finds

Four-Dose Regimen Of 20-Valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine Elicits Robust Immunity In Healthy Infants, Study Finds

Among Patients With Cancer And Invasive Fungal Infections, Hypoalbuminemia Linked To Increased Risk Of Subtherapeutic Posaconazole Plasma Levels, Study Finds

Health Officials Say Traveler From Germany Carried Measles Through LAX Earlier This Month

Questionnaire Can Successfully Identify Patients With STIs At Low Risk For Penicillin Allergy, Study Finds

Racial Discrimination In Midlife May Contribute To Greater Alzheimer Disease Pathology And Neurodegeneration In Later Life Among Black Americans, Study Finds

Cytomegalovirus Seroprevalence Increases With Age, Higher In Women, Study Finds

Warmer, Wetter Weather Boosts Dengue Fever Risk In US

US, EU Officials Looking Into Vaccinating Farm Workers Against H5N1

Infants Born During Spring, Summer Months More Likely To Have RSV In First Season, Study Finds

Prediabetes, Diabetes Common Among Patients With HIV Infection, Study Finds

Uptick In US COVID-19 Cases Possible This Summer, Though Few Public Health Resources Will Go To Prevention

WHO Report Details “Major” Increase In STIs In 2022