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Infectious diseases news

RSV admissions among infants fall sharply following vaccine rollout

Thousands of infants contract respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) every year. While most experience mild symptoms, the virus can cause severe breathing difficulties in newborns and young infants and may require hospital treatment. ...

New RNA vaccine strategy aims to build broader immunity against mutating viruses

New research by Malaghan's Connor Laboratory, published in PNAS, shows how directing the immune system toward conserved areas of the COVID virus and its many variants using RNA technology could be a significant step toward ...

Early trials for 'common cold' vaccine offer encouraging signs

A vaccine designed to protect against rhinoviruses, which cause the great majority of common colds and exacerbate chronic respiratory illnesses, has shown encouraging early results in a phase 1 clinical trial. Initial findings ...

Egyptian group developing Ebola vaccine

An Egyptian pharmaceutical firm is developing a potential vaccine against the deadly Ebola strain raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), it announced Thursday.

WHO declares Uganda Ebola-free

Uganda was declared officially Ebola-free by the World Health Organization on Thursday after 42 days without a new case.

New approach cuts sepsis diagnosis from days to hours

Sepsis, a life-threatening condition that stems from the body trying to fight off an infection, plagues more than 1.5 million patients a year in the U.S. alone, with one in three deaths recorded in hospitals attributed in ...

How pregnancy itself drives deadly hepatitis E outcomes

Researchers have uncovered a biological mechanism that helps explain why hepatitis E virus infections can be especially severe—and often fatal—during pregnancy, finding that normal pregnancy-related hormonal changes inadvertently ...

Wastewater may offer an early warning of pertussis outbreaks

Pertussis, or whooping cough, continues to cause periodic outbreaks worldwide and can be especially dangerous for infants who have not completed vaccination. Yet conventional surveillance depends on people seeking medical ...

1.7 million Australians are unprotected against measles

An estimated 1.7 million Australians, or 6.7% of the population, were susceptible (did not have sufficient immunity) to measles in 2019, a major new study led by the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance ...

High-risk groups forgo vaccination despite it being free

Although influenza and COVID-19 vaccination are offered free of charge to people at increased risk of severe illness, many still choose not to get vaccinated. A new study from Umeå University shows that the main barriers ...