https://medicalxpress.com/infectious-diseases-news/ en-us Latest medical news and research in Infectious diseases Misinformation and distrust are among the challenges facing public health workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo as they confront the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak on record. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-ebola-central-africa-groups.html Tue, 25 Aug 2026 23:40:01 EDT news706859660 Following the Trump administration's 2018 announcement of changes to the public charge rule that would penalize immigrants for using public benefit programs, antisanctuary counties in the U.S. saw a 16.8% increase in HIV cases among Hispanic populations, compared with baseline counties. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-anti-immigrant-policy-contributed-hiv.html Tue, 25 Aug 2026 14:20:04 EDT news706883283 Two unvaccinated Pennsylvania residents have died from measles, state health officials said Tuesday, the first measles-related deaths in the U.S. this year. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-pennsylvania-measles-deaths-year-people.html Tue, 25 Aug 2026 13:20:03 EDT news706880602 Fewer cases of mpox virus (MPXV) infection were reported in 2025 than in 2024, but the number of reported cases during September to October 2025 was double that seen in 2024, according to research published in the Aug. 20 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-cdc-characterizes-epidemiology-mpox-infection.html Mon, 24 Aug 2026 15:40:01 EDT news706797205 Alfalfa sprouts sold in grocery stores have sickened 55 people in 15 states, federal health officials say. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-alfalfa-linked-coli-salmonella-outbreak.html Mon, 24 Aug 2026 15:00:11 EDT news706794189 More than 300 people died of Ebola in eastern Congo in the past week, one of the highest weekly tolls yet, government data showed Monday, as health workers struggle to catch up with an outbreak that is spreading at unprecedented speed. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-congo-ebola-outbreak-highest-weekly.html Mon, 24 Aug 2026 14:40:06 EDT news706794163 The Lancet HIV Commission on Aging's 2026 report highlights how profoundly the global HIV epidemic is changing. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-aging-hiv-global-highlights-health.html Mon, 24 Aug 2026 13:20:07 EDT news706793942 If you're 70 or older, or 50 or older with underlying health conditions, and have tested positive for COVID, you might have been offered free or subsidized antivirals. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-covid-antivirals-thought.html Mon, 24 Aug 2026 11:20:07 EDT news706785842 The Chagas disease parasite (Trypanosoma cruzi) undergoes a major transformation throughout its life cycle to infect humans and other mammals. It alters the types and amounts of proteins in its body to adapt. The factors that drive this transformation are still poorly understood. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-chagas-disease-parasite-infectious.html Mon, 24 Aug 2026 11:20:03 EDT news706788901 A new Cochrane evidence and gap map (EGM) has mapped the global research landscape on dengue prevention, finding plenty of research but not enough of it synthesized in ways policymakers can use. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-cochrane-gap-highlights-big-gaps.html Mon, 24 Aug 2026 07:20:05 EDT news706767122 A fifth death connected to West Nile virus was registered Saturday in North Macedonia, which is conducting extensive fumigation against mosquitoes, the country's health authorities said. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-north-macedonia-registers-west-nile.html Sun, 23 Aug 2026 06:00:05 EDT news706681800 Climate variability in the Atlantic Ocean can help predict cutaneous leishmaniasis outbreaks in North Africa several months in advance. This is the finding of a new study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), together with researchers from the Pasteur Institutes of Tunisia, Morocco and France. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-atlantic-climate-variability-enables-leishmaniasis.html Sat, 22 Aug 2026 17:00:01 EDT news706462963 Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) is a dangerous virus spread by ticks. It transmits Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF), a serious disease that has been spreading into new regions worldwide. Capable of killing up to 40% of people infected, it currently has no widely approved, highly effective treatments or vaccines. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-antibody-therapy-borne-disease.html Sat, 22 Aug 2026 12:00:01 EDT news706614264 Mosquito control is crucial to addressing the increase in mosquito-borne diseases in Europe such as dengue, chikungunya virus disease and West Nile virus infection, according to EU scientists from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the European Commission, in an article published in Eurosurveillance. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-scientists-highlight-essential-role-mosquito.html Fri, 21 Aug 2026 20:40:01 EDT news706535316 Twelve countries in Europe have reported locally acquired cases of West Nile virus so far this year, the EU health agency said Friday, urging the continent to boost its control efforts. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-west-nile-virus-european-countries.html Fri, 21 Aug 2026 17:00:05 EDT news706538571 Tuberculosis (TB) is a leading cause of infectious disease deaths, claiming more than 1 million lives every year. It spreads through the air when an infected person coughs, sneezes or exhales, and drug-resistant strains and asymptomatic spreading are growing concerns. Curbing TB transmission is an urgent public health challenge, yet scientists still don't understand how airflow and other environmental factors influence that spread. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-local-airflow-patterns-ventilation-airborne.html Fri, 21 Aug 2026 14:20:05 EDT news706536241 The Ebola outbreak that is spreading at unprecedented speed in Congo has not peaked yet and could be three times the current known size, according to data from authorities and Africa's top public health agency. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-congo-ebola-outbreak-track-surpass-1.html Fri, 21 Aug 2026 14:00:03 EDT news706535636 The World Health Organization estimates that in 2026 nearly 11 million people will contract the virus that causes measles. Most of these cases will occur in Africa and Asia, but many countries in the Americas and Europe are reporting outbreaks affecting hundreds or thousands of people. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-millions-people-world-measles.html Fri, 21 Aug 2026 10:20:04 EDT news706522562 Two identical mice experience the same deadly infection. One survives, while the other dies. Why? Scientists long thought the answer lay in the pathogen burden—the amount of harmful bacteria present in the body. They assumed that in the mice that died, the pathogen burden had become insurmountable, overpowering the immune system. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-disease-tolerance-treatments-limit-infection.html Fri, 21 Aug 2026 08:00:01 EDT news706509241 Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), the virus best known for causing cold sores, infects a large portion of the world's population and can remain dormant in nerve cells for decades. In recent years, researchers have found evidence linking HSV-1 to neurological conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, but scientists still do not fully understand how the virus affects the brain. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-herpes-rewires-energy-metabolism-human.html Thu, 20 Aug 2026 18:20:01 EDT news706458661 Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine's Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health (CVD) have identified key social and environmental factors that influence how climate change affects childhood diarrheal diseases in sub-Saharan Africa. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-climate-reshape-childhood-diarrheal-disease.html Thu, 20 Aug 2026 17:40:05 EDT news706456501 Guinea-Bissau is facing its first outbreak of mpox, UN children's agency UNICEF said Thursday, voicing concern that half of suspected cases were affecting children and that the country is ill-prepared. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-guinea-bissau-mpox-outbreak-unicef.html Thu, 20 Aug 2026 15:20:03 EDT news706455310 Congo will receive 70,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine, which has been effective in past Ebola outbreaks, the World Health Organization and partners said Thursday, announcing a step seen as a major boost to efforts to contain what officials have described as the fastest Ebola outbreak in history. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-congo-doses-ervebo-ebola-vaccine.html Thu, 20 Aug 2026 15:00:05 EDT news706454671 A Viewpoint article published in the journal BioScience argues that the contentious debate over the origins of SARS-CoV-2 could benefit from a well-established scientific approach for weighing competing explanations. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-multiple-covid-debate.html Thu, 20 Aug 2026 13:20:05 EDT news706444863 Tetanus is often considered a disease of the past, remembered mainly through childhood vaccinations and warnings about rusty nails. Yet despite being preventable with an effective vaccine, it continues to cause tens of thousands of deaths worldwide each year. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-tetanus-global-health-problem.html Thu, 20 Aug 2026 12:40:07 EDT news706444562 A single application to water containers can significantly reduce yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti) populations—and thus the spread of dengue fever—for many months. Researchers from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Freiburg demonstrated this in a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-application-anti-mosquito-coating-term.html Thu, 20 Aug 2026 11:40:05 EDT news706439486 Vaccines protect most people from serious illness, but the strength of that protection can vary considerably from one person to another. A new study led by Arizona State University helps us understand why. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-immune-responses-vaccines-vary-person.html Thu, 20 Aug 2026 11:00:10 EDT news706347841 Innovative research led by a University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine professor whose lab focuses on mechanisms that maintain a healthy immune system has discovered that a gene best known for increasing the risk of Parkinson's disease may also give the body an edge in fighting dangerous infections. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-parkinson-linked-gene-clues-deadly.html Thu, 20 Aug 2026 10:20:01 EDT news706437927 Influenza spreads in a crowded barracks or prison. Ebola proliferates when per capita hospital beds plummet below typical levels in developed countries. Bedside discrimination leads some patients to die and others to survive. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-metric-reveals-inequality-epidemics.html Wed, 19 Aug 2026 19:10:01 EDT news706277942 A urinary tract infection that follows a moderate brain injury can worsen cognitive problems caused by the injury, new research in mice shows. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-bladder-infection-brain-injury-worsens.html Wed, 19 Aug 2026 17:20:04 EDT news706376342