https://medicalxpress.com/infectious-diseases-news/ en-us Latest medical news and research in Infectious diseases Men are more likely than women to catch tuberculosis (TB), finds a new study led by UCL (University College London) researchers. Globally, men account for around two-thirds of people diagnosed with TB, but until now, the reasons for this disparity had remained unclear. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-men-higher-tb-burden-stem.html Wed, 12 Aug 2026 19:10:06 EDT news705678241 As cases of the potentially deadly drug-resistant fungal infection Candida auris have spread to 27 states, including Texas, which has the second-highest number, a scientist at UT Health San Antonio, the academic health center of The University of Texas at San Antonio, warns that strains resistant to frontline antifungal medications are becoming an increasingly urgent global problem. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-candida-auris-scientist-highlights-threat.html Wed, 12 Aug 2026 16:20:04 EDT news705763790 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 are not financial or related to distance from vaccination services. Instead, those most likely to forgo vaccination were younger individuals, men, smokers, and people with reduced independence. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-high-groups-forgo-vaccination-free.html Wed, 12 Aug 2026 15:40:02 EDT news705757681 An analysis of Reddit posts about the maternal Tdap vaccine made by pregnant women reveals that expectant mothers turn to Reddit to seek advice and reassurance—with fewer outright instances of vaccine hesitancy or refusal than generally observed for other types of vaccines, according to a study published Aug. 12, 2026, in the journal PLOS Global Public Health by Soojung Jo from Purdue University, United States, and colleagues. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-reddit-reveals-pregnant-women-tdap.html Wed, 12 Aug 2026 14:00:11 EDT news705588515 Flesh-eating bacteria sound like the premise of a bad horror movie, but they're a growing—and potentially fatal—threat to people in the U.S. and beyond. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-flesheating-bacteria-devouring-limbs-worldwide.html Wed, 12 Aug 2026 12:50:01 EDT news705752867 Encephalitis is a serious condition in which an infection or autoimmune response triggers inflammation of the brain. The resulting swelling can disrupt normal brain function, causing neurological changes such as confusion, altered mental status and seizures. Researchers from The University of Texas Medical Branch wanted to see whether the aftermath of encephalitis left the brain vulnerable to other neurological conditions. They studied a very large group of people in the United States using anonymous electronic health records from 72 health care organizations. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-brain-inflammation-dementia-shadow-older.html Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:33:32 EDT news705745976 The World Health Organization warned Wednesday that Donald Trump's bid to overhaul child vaccination in the United States went against "decades of evidence." https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-trump-vaccine-evidence.html Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:28:32 EDT news705745674 U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that recasts the country's childhood vaccination policy to "support maximal parental choice." https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-vaccine-policy-shift-undermine-childhood.html Wed, 12 Aug 2026 08:00:03 EDT news705735374 A study appearing in Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics found that introducing the hexavalent (six-in-one) vaccine into India's Universal Immunization Program (UIP) could improve the efficiency of the country's childhood immunization program. The vaccine would reduce the number of injections infants receive, ease the workload of frontline health workers, lower cold-chain requirements and save caregivers' time. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-hexavalent-vaccine-india-immunization-efficient.html Wed, 12 Aug 2026 07:40:02 EDT news705735314 A new executive order calls for American children to be routinely immunized against 11 diseases instead of the 17 now recommended by federal health officials. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-routine-childhood-vaccines-doctors.html Tue, 11 Aug 2026 18:20:04 EDT news705678829 More than one in four UK health care workers have been affected by long COVID, with symptoms lasting beyond three months, according to an NHS research program involving a UCL team. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-uk-health-workers-covid-symptoms.html Tue, 11 Aug 2026 15:00:03 EDT news705670840 New research at Aston University has shown that a variety of compounds are responsible for the antimicrobial action of mānuka honey, not just the sugar content and methylglyoxal (MGO) alone, as previously thought. The paper is published in Microbiology. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-multiple-bioactive-compounds-antimicrobial-properties.html Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:40:04 EDT news705662761 New research led by the Hudson Institute of Medical Research has shown how a cell recognizes that it is infected with a virus to protect itself and surrounding cells or induce inflammation. The discovery, published in Nature Immunology and led by Dr. Natália Sampaio, turns our understanding of how inflammation begins at a cellular level on its head. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-cells-abnormal-rna-trigger-inflammation.html Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:40:01 EDT news705667201 Researchers from Trinity College Dublin and St. James's Hospital have shown that dexamethasone, a commonly prescribed anti-inflammatory steroid, can reduce harmful inflammation triggered by Mycobacterium avium without weakening the ability of human immune cells to control the infection. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-steroids-inflammation-chronic-mycobacterial-lung.html Tue, 11 Aug 2026 09:00:06 EDT news705588592 Researchers from the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases updated recommendations for the use of influenza vaccines and antiviral medications in the prevention and treatment of influenza in children during the 2026–2027 influenza season. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-aap-influenza-vaccine-children-months.html Mon, 10 Aug 2026 19:40:05 EDT news705585732 The fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record started in February, months before it was officially declared in mid-May, the World Health Organization said Monday as responders in eastern Congo struggle to catch up. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-congo-fast-ebola-outbreak-months.html Mon, 10 Aug 2026 18:20:01 EDT news705587416 HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that attacks the body's immune system and remains a major global health challenge because of persistent viral reservoirs, despite effective treatments. Key factors include around 40 million people living with HIV, 1 million new infections each year and permanent viral DNA integration into host cells. Some HIV proviruses hide quietly in cells and escape both medicines and the immune system, creating a permanent viral reservoir that prevents patients from being cured. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-hiv-proviruses-chronic-inflammation.html Mon, 10 Aug 2026 16:40:08 EDT news705587822 Researchers have identified genetic changes in malaria parasites that may reduce the effectiveness of key antimalarial medicines, highlighting the need for continued surveillance. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-reveals-malaria-drug-resistance-ethiopia.html Mon, 10 Aug 2026 13:20:09 EDT news705583621 A new nationwide study finds antiviral treatment is linked to fewer intensive care unit (ICU) admissions and shorter hospital stays for children hospitalized with influenza. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-largest-real-world-early-flu.html Mon, 10 Aug 2026 12:20:08 EDT news705582301 The nationwide cyclospora outbreak is very likely a result of sewage contamination in the food supply, according to scientific researchers and public health officials. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-cyclospora-human-food.html Mon, 10 Aug 2026 12:20:06 EDT news705581521 When the World Health Organization declared an Ebola outbreak in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in May, scientists around the world mobilized to help. Among them were researchers at Dalhousie University. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-ebola-variant-potential-treatment.html Mon, 10 Aug 2026 07:40:07 EDT news705562501 Every year, more than 120,000 newborns worldwide contract HIV, creating a global health burden that requires lifelong treatment for millions of people—assuming they have access and can afford it. New research led by Oregon Health & Science University suggests another possibility: a one-time regimen of therapies given to newborns within three days of birth to permanently clear the virus. The research is published today in the journal Nature Microbiology. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-triple-dose-regimen-permanently-hiv.html Mon, 10 Aug 2026 05:00:03 EDT news705246781 A new study by researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) found that bacterial infections develop in approximately 5% of adults hospitalized with firearm injuries, with most infections occurring during the initial hospitalization rather than after patients return home. The findings were published in JAMA Network Open as a research letter. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-bacterial-infections-affect-hospitalized-adults.html Sun, 09 Aug 2026 09:40:02 EDT news705322433 In science, the suffix "phage" means to devour. Thus, the name bacteriophage might conjure images of tiny creatures that "eat" bacteria. While that conception isn't 100% scientifically accurate, bacteriophages are lethal killers of bacteria nonetheless, and scientists are excited about engineering phage DNA as a path to new antibiotics. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-ai-coli-killer-ways-antibiotic.html Sat, 08 Aug 2026 07:40:01 EDT news705314866 Malaria kills more than half a million people a year, most of them young children in Africa. Two vaccines are now recommended by the World Health Organization: RTS,S and R21. Both are helpful interventions, but neither works as well or as long as public health officials would like. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-malaria-vaccine-ons-antibody.html Sat, 08 Aug 2026 06:00:01 EDT news705376423 As more Americans with HIV live into older age, Medicare spending on their care is projected to rise dramatically from $10.9 billion in 2026 to $27.3 billion in 2035, with HIV medications accounting for nearly two-thirds of total costs. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-qa-medicare-clinical-people-aging.html Fri, 07 Aug 2026 13:00:05 EDT news705325321 West Nile virus is the most common mosquito-borne disease in the United States—and this summer, cases are rising unusually early. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the country has recorded its highest number of West Nile cases this early in the season since 2004. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-potentially-mosquito-borne-illnesses.html Fri, 07 Aug 2026 07:40:03 EDT news705298382 Recent visitors to the popular Universal Studios theme park in California may have been exposed to measles, the local health department said, as cases of the once-eradicated disease soar in the United States. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-contagious-measles-case-california-theme.html Fri, 07 Aug 2026 02:34:55 EDT news705288831 A disease surveillance strategy modeled on the body's immune system detected more disease-carrying insects than the traditional top-down approach, according to a study led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Peru. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-immune-health-strategy-disease-insects.html Thu, 06 Aug 2026 18:40:01 EDT news705255422 The first evidence that night work and chronic insomnia may increase the risk of developing long COVID comes from a new study led by ISGlobal, a center supported by the "la Caixa" Foundation, in collaboration with the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) through the GCAT | Genomes for Life cohort. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-night-shift-linked-higher-covid.html Thu, 06 Aug 2026 17:40:07 EDT news705255661