Articles related to Infectious Diseases

Monkeypox has never before appeared more or less simultaneously across different countries and now continents. So this current outbreak is both puzzling and concerning public health workers. Unlike the previous cases discovered outside Africa, the current outbreaks have occurred in people with no travel history, suggesting that human-to-human transmission is driving the spread. And in the current outbreak, the illness appears to be presenting atypically, without its normal prodrome. Read more about the hypothesized connection with smallpox eradication, available vaccinations, and public health response from the outbreak.

The US is in the midst of another surge in COVID-19 infections heading into the summer. A GWU physician feels CDC are misserving the country by downplaying the surge and hiding the real data behind an “all green” map.

Monkeypox is again spreading around the world, from Europe to North America. This is the first outbreak in US the since 2003 and the disease is now spreading fairly rapidly on a daily basis. Transmission between people mostly occurs through large respiratory droplets, normally meaning prolonged contact face to face. But the virus can also spread through bodily fluids. The latest cases have mainly been among men who have sex with men. Currently, the UK has the largest number of diagnosed cases, followed by Portugal, Canada, and Spain. Latest case counts by country can be seen here.

The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has issued guidance on managing drug interactions with nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (Paxlovid). Specifically, the IDSA recommends clinicians take six steps to minimize the risk of drug interactions for patients with COVID-19 who are eligible for nirmatrelvir/ritonavir.

Although vaccinations to the arm can still prevent serious illness, their ability to ward off infection completely has been diminished. And part of the reason may be the location of the vaccines, which some scientists now want to change by delivering inoculations to the site where the virus first makes contact: the nose. Three separate nasal sprays, now in advanced trials, could trigger stronger immune responses in people who have COVID-19.

How does the diagnostic performance of home antigen tests change during the course of SARS-CoV-2 infection? Symptomatic individuals with an initial negative home antigen test result for SARS-CoV-2 infection should test again one to two days later because test sensitivity seems to peak several days after illness onset.