https://medicalxpress.com/infectious-diseases-news/ en-us Latest medical news and research in Infectious diseases Young people living with HIV manage their condition better when their antiretroviral therapy is given by injections every eight weeks rather than daily tablets, according to results of a trial in Africa led by UCL (University College London) researchers. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-hiv-tablets-young-people-clinical.html Thu, 17 Sep 2026 18:30:01 EDT news708781562 There is no cure for HIV. While scientists have made considerable progress in controlling the infection, patients still must take daily antiretroviral medication for the rest of their lives. Results from a clinical trial led by Rockefeller, Imperial College London, and the University of Oxford (RIO) have offered a new strategy, suggesting that just one or two doses of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) can suppress the virus long term, keeping it at undetectable levels for months and even years. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-immune-hiv.html Thu, 17 Sep 2026 15:00:08 EDT news708871262 One person died from malaria in Frankfurt and another was infected, local health officials said Thursday, the latest cases in a malaria outbreak linked to the city's airport. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-malaria-death-germany-outbreak-frankfurt.html Thu, 17 Sep 2026 14:40:01 EDT news708869043 Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the world's leading causes of death, and preventing post-treatment relapse continues to be a major global health challenge. But a new study led by scientists at the Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI) reveals that combining an immunotherapy with the traditional Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine drastically lowers the risk of TB relapse in preclinical models. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-boosted-bacille-calmette-gurin-vaccine.html Thu, 17 Sep 2026 11:40:06 EDT news708856201 Redness and pain at the injection site, fever, fatigue or headaches: Vaccines can cause side effects, but their frequency and severity vary considerably from person to person. Why? https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-vaccination-dont-side-effects.html Thu, 17 Sep 2026 10:40:38 EDT news708859801 Fiji has declared a national HIV crisis as sexual transmission and illicit drug use help spread the virus, now infecting an estimated one in 60 adults in the Pacific nation. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-fiji-declares-national-hiv-crisis.html Thu, 17 Sep 2026 04:05:06 EDT news708836672 The head of the U.N. health agency is hailing "encouraging signs" in the fight against an Ebola outbreak in one part of eastern Congo, while warning that case counts are rising fast in another as officials race to tamp down the virus. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-congo-ebola-cases-eastern-region.html Wed, 16 Sep 2026 16:20:07 EDT news708786440 It was mid-2020, and Patrick Varilly, a software engineer and data scientist, was stuck at home, eager to help the world navigate the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. He reconnected with Pardis Sabeti, a core institute member of the Broad Institute who was at the forefront of analyzing how the SARS-CoV-2 virus was spreading, and with Ben Fry, her longstanding collaborator and principal at Fathom Information Design, a software firm known for tackling complex data problems. Varilly had worked closely with Sabeti and Fry at MIT more than 20 years earlier. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-software-rapidly-tracks-viral-variants.html Wed, 16 Sep 2026 14:20:07 EDT news708786756 A little-known chronic lung disease is silently emerging as a growing public health threat in the U.S. and around the world. Nontuberculous mycobacteria—a group of 200 known environmental bacteria found in soil and water, including household plumbing—can cause chronic, tuberculosis-like lung infections. NTM lung disease afflicts as many as 300,000 Americans a year. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-diagnosis-hard-lung-infections.html Wed, 16 Sep 2026 14:00:21 EDT news708778382 What if something produced naturally by your gut bacteria could help fight a dangerous foodborne pathogen? Researchers in Michigan State University's Department of Microbiology, Genetics, & Immunology may have found just such a substance. Academic Research Specialist Ritam Sinha and Rudolph Hugh Endowed Professor and Department Chair Victor DiRita and colleagues discovered that a molecule called indole can inhibit the growth of Campylobacter jejuni, a leading cause of food poisoning worldwide. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-gut-bacteria-molecule-food-poisoning.html Wed, 16 Sep 2026 14:00:05 EDT news708695881 Despite having an overactive immune system, people with lupus may still struggle to fight bacterial infections. My team and I found that this paradox may result from chronic inflammation pushing their immune cells toward the wrong kind of response. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-overactive-immune-bodies-people-lupus.html Wed, 16 Sep 2026 13:40:12 EDT news708774002 A new study shows how a type of disease-causing E. coli can quickly adapt when it loses one of its main ways of attaching to the intestine. The bacteria either change shape or make small changes to a protein that strengthens their grip on human cells. The findings help explain why these strains can still cause illness and identify a possible target for future treatments that could stop infection by preventing bacteria from attaching in the first place. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-mechanism-reveals-atypical-coli-ability.html Wed, 16 Sep 2026 13:00:07 EDT news708771341 To defeat multidrug-resistant superbugs, bacterial defenses must be confronted wherever they may emerge, from basic genetic mutations in a laboratory to complex real-world transmission in hospital rooms. A new trio of studies published in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy and researched by the laboratory of Barry N. Kreiswirth, Ph.D., at the Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI) demonstrates how an integrated approach might yet expose and overcome these diverse survival mechanisms. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-superbugs-evade-antibiotics-vulnerable-patients.html Wed, 16 Sep 2026 13:00:01 EDT news708780001 An analysis of more than 60,000 respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) sequences from around the world found that viral variants associated with resistance to current RSV prevention tools remain rare, according to a study published in Nature. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-effectiveness-rsv-antibodies-infants-viral.html Wed, 16 Sep 2026 12:00:03 EDT news708778321 A new study illuminates the connection between the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and multiple sclerosis (MS), pointing to a causal role for reactivation of the virus in triggering MS attacks in people with certain genetic risk factors. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-epstein-barr-virus-foreshadow-multiple.html Wed, 16 Sep 2026 05:00:07 EDT news708680761 Pennsylvania officials have reported a fourth measles-associated death. The latest death involved an 18-year-old resident of Mifflin County, in the center of the state, the county coroner's office said in a Facebook post. The cause was acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, a rare and severe neurological complication of measles, it said. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-fourth-measles-death-pennsylvania.html Wed, 16 Sep 2026 04:10:39 EDT news708750606 Streptococcus pneumoniae is a bacterial pathogen that causes life-threatening infections, including pneumonia and meningitis. These infections are commonly treated with antibiotics, but antibiotics are becoming less effective against S. pneumoniae over time because of changes in the pathogen that cause drug resistance. This phenomenon, called antimicrobial resistance, is resulting in significant health care costs and deaths around the world. In a new study published by Wiley in Advanced Science, researchers used artificial intelligence (AI) to identify approved drugs that may be effective against S. pneumoniae. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-drugs-resistant-strains-ai-advances.html Wed, 16 Sep 2026 03:10:01 EDT news708701222 New sexual health data released by the Kirby Institute at UNSW Sydney show a mixed picture for Australia, with rates of syphilis and gonorrhea remaining high after significant increases since 2016—and chlamydia stable but still the most commonly notified sexually transmitted infection (STI). First Nations peoples continue to experience higher rates of all STIs, highlighting the need for sustained investment in culturally safe sexual health services. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-sti-high-australia-latest-sexual.html Tue, 15 Sep 2026 22:40:01 EDT news708698601 Federal health officials are reporting a nationwide rise in the number of people exposed to rabid or possibly rabid animals. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-americans-rabies-shots-year-exposures.html Tue, 15 Sep 2026 16:40:02 EDT news708697018 For the first time in Canada, researchers are intentionally exposing healthy volunteers to influenza under carefully controlled conditions to establish a research model that could accelerate the evaluation of future influenza vaccines and strengthen pandemic preparedness. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-volunteers-intentionally-exposed-influenza-advance.html Tue, 15 Sep 2026 15:40:01 EDT news708697798 Where a patient undergoes heart surgery can significantly affect their risk of infection following the procedure, with some patients facing more than double the risk of others, according to a new Michigan Medicine study. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-infections-heart-surgery-medicare-million.html Tue, 15 Sep 2026 15:00:06 EDT news708697382 Infection can develop in up to 10–20% of patients after a cesarean delivery, and the risk nearly doubles for those who have an unplanned cesarean delivery, such as those performed during labor. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-emergency-section-infections-decline-azithromycin.html Tue, 15 Sep 2026 14:20:03 EDT news708690181 The Tampa Bay Times reported the death of an older woman on Sept. 8, 2026. Her family says local doctors attributed her death to dengue fever, although the Florida Department of Health has not yet confirmed it. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-denguecarrying-mosquitoes-territories-florida.html Tue, 15 Sep 2026 13:00:07 EDT news708684302 Fatigue is one of the most common and disabling symptoms of post-COVID-19 condition (PCC), often referred to as long COVID. Although the condition has been studied extensively since the pandemic, the biological mechanisms behind persistent symptoms are still not fully understood. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-brain-blood-linked-fatigue-covid.html Tue, 15 Sep 2026 12:00:02 EDT news708684076 A mathematical model is a simplified description of reality that can be used to solve practical problems, predict future events or explain how different systems work. During pandemics, mathematical models can be valuable tools for simulating disease transmission and, among other things, forecasting how many hospital beds will be needed. Early in an outbreak, however, there is often considerable uncertainty about how the disease spreads, resulting in uncertain forecasts. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-simulated-epidemics-reliable-hospitalization.html Tue, 15 Sep 2026 10:40:09 EDT news708687062 Researchers from the Centenary Institute and the University of Sydney have developed a modified version of the tuberculosis (TB) vaccine BCG that provided stronger and more sustained protection against TB. In preclinical tests in mice, the modified vaccine showed potential as a new approach to improving the effectiveness of TB vaccination. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-bcg-vaccine-tb.html Tue, 15 Sep 2026 07:40:03 EDT news708671942 Chile has become the first country in South America to eliminate dog-transmitted rabies to humans, following more than five decades of public health "prevention and surveillance," the World Health Organization said Monday. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-validates-chile-south-american-country.html Tue, 15 Sep 2026 04:42:25 EDT news708666124 Scotland is the first country in the world to use evidence gathered during the pandemic to transform its guidelines on reducing the spread of respiratory disease in health care settings. The new approach has been influenced by findings from a University of Bristol and Bristol NHS Foundation Trust study. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-scottish-infection-guidelines-evidence-aerosol.html Mon, 14 Sep 2026 22:40:02 EDT news708611261 A new immunization, offered free to all infants through universal programs in two Canadian provinces, provided strong protection against respiratory syncytial virus, commonly referred to as RSV, sharply reducing hospitalizations and intensive care unit (ICU) admissions in infants. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-rsv-immunization-effective-icu-admission.html Mon, 14 Sep 2026 17:40:01 EDT news708622682 A discovery made 50 years ago helped establish the field of human retrovirology, advance understanding of the human immune system and contribute to a revolution in cancer treatment. A new perspective in Science examines that history, beginning with the 1976 discovery by Robert C. Gallo, MD, and his colleagues of a human T-cell growth factor later named interleukin-2 (IL-2). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-fifty-years-il-discovery-medicine.html Mon, 14 Sep 2026 17:20:06 EDT news708623461