https://medicalxpress.com/infectious-diseases-news/ en-us Latest medical news and research in Infectious diseases Younger siblings are often portrayed as reckless, scatterbrained and less put-together than their older siblings. Social science researchers have underpinned these portrayals with data, showing that younger siblings obtain, on average, slightly less education and earn slightly less in adulthood. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-early-respiratory-infections-younger-siblings.html Sun, 26 Jul 2026 10:00:01 EDT news704030552 Disrupted sleep and anxiety may be ongoing issues for many people after the pandemic, whether due to COVID-19 directly or to the stress and anxiety caused by the global pandemic, and may contribute to the fatigue commonly reported by people with Post-COVID-19 Syndrome (PCS, or "long COVID"). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-pandemic-issues-late.html Sat, 25 Jul 2026 12:00:01 EDT news704030805 Ebolaviruses are among the most dangerous known human pathogens. Three ebolavirus species have repeatedly caused major disease outbreaks on the African continent. Most outbreaks have been caused by Zaire ebolavirus. Vaccines and therapeutics are available for this virus species. In contrast, no therapeutics or vaccines are currently available against Bundibugyo ebolavirus, which is responsible for the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. This significantly complicates efforts to control the outbreak, which is already the largest documented Bundibugyo ebolavirus outbreak to date. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-zaire-ebola-vaccine-partial-bundibugyo.html Fri, 24 Jul 2026 17:00:01 EDT news704113752 The plague has killed more people than World War II. The bacterium Yersinia pestis (Yp), which causes plague, has triggered three major pandemics throughout history, leaving behind a casualty toll of more than 200 million people. Although the plague no longer causes pandemics on the scale seen in history, it still occurs in many parts of the world today. Vaccination remains our best defense against the disease, but approved options remain scarce. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-experimental-plague-vaccine-strategy-mice.html Fri, 24 Jul 2026 11:00:11 EDT news704105200 A new oral antiviral drug candidate, administered either before or after direct-contact or airborne exposure to canine distemper virus, which causes measles-like disease in ferrets, blocks virus transmission and reduces clinical symptoms, according to a study published in the journal Nature Microbiology by researchers at the Center for Translational Antiviral Research (CTAR) at Georgia State University. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-oral-antiviral-blocks-airborne-measles.html Fri, 24 Jul 2026 10:40:08 EDT news704105080 PET/CT can add valuable information to aid the diagnosis of fever of unknown origin (FUO), according to a new multicenter, retrospective study published in the June issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. In a cohort of more than 900 FUO patients, molecular imaging directly influenced clinical management in nearly 75%, contributing to improved patient outcomes, increased patient safety and reduced health care costs. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-molecular-imaging-diagnosis-fever-unknown.html Thu, 23 Jul 2026 19:20:04 EDT news704045701 Children hospitalized with severe pneumonia can safely switch from injectable to oral antibiotics once they begin to recover, allowing many to return home sooner and complete treatment outside the hospital. That is according to a major international clinical trial led by researchers from City St George's, University of London, UCL Innovative Clinical Trials Unit, and partners across Africa and Europe. The results are published in The Lancet. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-children-severe-pneumonia-hospital-sooner.html Thu, 23 Jul 2026 18:30:01 EDT news704045341 Researchers from the University of Cologne, the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT present a clinical case in the New England Journal of Medicine that provides new insights into the evolution of bacterial pathogens and presents the concept of heterovirulence, or the simultaneous presence of subpopulations with different levels of virulence within a single infection. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-urinary-tract-infection-brain-abscess.html Thu, 23 Jul 2026 16:20:01 EDT news704037241 Drug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae (the bacterium that causes gonorrhea) has become one of the most urgent antimicrobial-resistant threats to public health worldwide. Clinicians expect to be confronted by rising rates of treatment failure in the years to come. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-therapies-rapid-reshape-drug-resistant.html Thu, 23 Jul 2026 14:20:11 EDT news704030779 When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down international travel in 2020, Michigan State University researcher Eric Benbow faced a problem. A $2.5 million research project designed to study an environmental pathogen in South America was suddenly on hold. With fieldwork canceled and uncertainty surrounding when travel might resume, Benbow and his collaborators needed a new plan. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-pandemic-detour-uncover-clues-mysterious.html Wed, 22 Jul 2026 16:40:01 EDT news703947481 Viral infections that attack the lungs are among the leading reasons infants are hospitalized. A new treatment may offer protection against these infections that is as effective and safe as existing options but requires far fewer injections. The Phase III SMART clinical trial investigated the safety and efficacy of clesrovimab (brand name ENFLONSIA), a long-acting medicine designed to protect babies from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-rsv-shot-emerges-shield-infants.html Wed, 22 Jul 2026 11:50:01 EDT news703934345 Tick-borne diseases are common throughout the United States, and most cases are treated effectively. A rarely diagnosed tick-borne infection, the Bourbon virus, transmitted by the common lone star tick, could soon begin to complicate diagnoses if it becomes more prevalent this summer and in coming years. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-lone-star-infection-bourbon-virus.html Wed, 22 Jul 2026 09:40:01 EDT news703929361 Certain antibiotics are overused in most countries, while too few people receive the specific antibiotic treatments they need, according to a study of antibiotic use across 186 countries published in The Lancet Public Health journal. The study provides scientific estimates of how many and which types of antibiotics each country could be expected to use ideally, based on local rates of infection and antibiotic resistance. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-countries-overuse-powerful-antibiotics-global.html Wed, 22 Jul 2026 08:00:03 EDT news703925405 Despite the best efforts of intensive care unit (ICU) staff and physicians and the most advanced life support, Dr. Bryan Yipp, witnesses many deaths in the ICU attributed to sepsis. "Sepsis is the body's overwhelming immune response to an infection, and sometimes that response can cause death," says Yipp, a critical care physician and clinician-scientist at the Cumming School of Medicine. "While many cases involve people with long-term illnesses, seemingly healthy people can be at work or home one moment and then, within hours, be admitted to the ICU." https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-cellular-behavioromics-reveals-immune-cells.html Tue, 21 Jul 2026 16:40:05 EDT news703863796 Macrophages are considered the "scavenger cells" of the immune system, but some pathogens exploit these very cells as hiding places. Researchers from the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) in Würzburg and Philipps-Universität Marburg have discovered a mechanism that helps immune cells balance their response to infection: a long noncoding ribonucleic acid called SAILR that acts as an apoptosis regulator. The findings were published in the journal PNAS. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-coding-rna-emerges-macrophages.html Mon, 20 Jul 2026 16:20:03 EDT news703778402 Antimicrobial resistance in children is rising globally and will worsen over the next decade, threatening the effectiveness of life-saving antibiotics, according to the world's first monitoring platform. The study, led by Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) in collaboration with the University of Sydney, Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) and The Chinese University of Hong Kong, analyzed more than 106,000 infection samples from children aged up to 18 years across 82 countries. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-line-antibiotics-children-resistance.html Mon, 20 Jul 2026 15:20:01 EDT news703776420 Although the COVID-19 pandemic has largely subsided, scientists continue to investigate why the virus proved so deadly, causing at least 3 million deaths worldwide, according to the latest estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-reveals-key-antiviral-defenses-severe.html Mon, 20 Jul 2026 14:40:10 EDT news703773640