https://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. The latest monthly report from ECDC for December 2025 shows that between January and December 2025, 7 655 measles cases were reported by 30 countries. Eight of these individuals died following measles infection: four in France, three in Romania, and one in the Netherlands. While the total number of infections in 2025 represents a significant decrease compared with the more than 35 000 cases in 2024, it is almost double the cases reported in 2023. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-community-ongoing-measles-transmission-europe.html Mon, 09 Feb 2026 22:40:04 EST news689867961 Health officials in San Bernardino County, California, have confirmed the first case of measles in the county since 2023. The county's Department of Public Health said the case involves an unvaccinated child who was visiting from another state, and is unrelated to the recent case of an international traveler who visited a Disney park. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-san-bernardino-county-measles-case.html Mon, 09 Feb 2026 19:30:01 EST news689848769 The measles outbreak in South Carolina reached 876 cases on Feb. 3, 2026. That number surpasses the 2025 outbreak in Texas and hits the unfortunate milestone of being the largest outbreak in the U.S. since 2000, when the disease was declared eliminated here. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-experiencing-largest-measles-outbreak-essential.html Mon, 09 Feb 2026 11:50:03 EST news689860142 Children in families who participate in a home visitation program in Maskwacîs, Alberta, are six times more likely to get their childhood vaccines than others in the First Nations community, according to new research from the University of Alberta published in the International Journal for Equity in Health. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-home-sixfold-early-childhood-vaccines.html Mon, 09 Feb 2026 10:50:28 EST news689856602 Many middle-aged folks and seniors are shrugging off their annual flu or COVID-19 shot for a very simple reason, a new survey has found. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-older-americans-seasonal-vaccines.html Sat, 07 Feb 2026 11:30:03 EST news689503116 The spread of a highly contagious disease is creeping into the Charlotte region. But experts say there are steps the community can take to prevent the kind of widespread outbreaks springing up in other parts of the country. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-charlotte-bigger-measles-outbreak-cases.html Fri, 06 Feb 2026 18:40:01 EST news689584786 The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted an urgent need for efficient, durable, and widely accessible vaccines. This prompted several important innovations in vaccine technology, and researchers continue to explore new and creative ways to make effective vaccines rapidly available to the greatest number of people. Researchers from the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo have used 3D-printing technology to improve the viral titer of microneedle array patches, resulting in effective immunogenicity and protection against infection in mice. Their study is published in Scientific Reports. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-3d-delivery-vaccine-microneedle-array.html Fri, 06 Feb 2026 15:00:04 EST news689589410 One of the biggest hurdles in developing an HIV vaccine is coaxing the body to produce the right kind of immune cells and antibodies. In most vaccines, HIV proteins are attached to a larger protein scaffolding that mimics a virus. Then, a person's immune system produces a range of antibodies that recognize different bits of those proteins. Often, however, some of those antibodies react not to HIV itself, but to the scaffold used to deliver the vaccine. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-invisible-vaccine-scaffolding-boosts-hiv.html Thu, 05 Feb 2026 14:00:11 EST news689444942 COVID-19 vaccination is not the cause behind a decrease in childbirth, according to a study from Linköping University, Sweden. The results, published in the journal Communications Medicine, speak to rumors about vaccination and reduced fertility. "Our conclusion is that it's highly unlikely that the mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 was behind the decrease in childbirth during the pandemic," says Toomas Timpka, professor of social medicine at Linköping University. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-women-association-covid-vaccine-decrease.html Thu, 05 Feb 2026 11:26:26 EST news689513161 A research team from POSTECH and ImmunoBiome in Korea, led by Professor Sin-Hyeog Im, has uncovered a new mechanism showing how butyrate—a short-chain fatty acid produced by gut commensal bacteria—enhances T follicular helper (Tfh) cell activity to promote antibody production and strengthen mucosal vaccine efficacy. This study identifies a new microbiota–immune–antibody production axis linking microbial metabolism to mucosal immune responses, providing a strategy to maximize the protective effects of mucosal vaccines. The findings are published in the journal Microbiome. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-gut-microbe-derived-butyrate-immune.html Thu, 05 Feb 2026 11:00:40 EST news689511601 Preventive cholera vaccination programs will restart globally after they were halted for nearly four years due to a vaccine shortage, the World Health Organization said Wednesday. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-restart-cholera-vaccinations-year-halt.html Wed, 04 Feb 2026 13:10:01 EST news689432341 This winter's brutal flu season isn't over, and COVID-19 cases have risen recently too. But a new poll taken in recent weeks shows that vaccination against both viruses lags among people 50 and over, and the national survey reveals key reasons why. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-older-adults-flu-covid-shots.html Tue, 03 Feb 2026 07:30:08 EST news689324939 Scientists at The Wistar Institute have developed an HIV vaccine candidate that achieves something never before observed in the field: inducing neutralizing antibodies against HIV after a single immunization in nonhuman primates. The innovative approach, published in Nature Immunology, could significantly shorten and simplify HIV vaccination protocols, making them more accessible worldwide. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-shot-hiv-vaccine-candidate-neutralizing.html Tue, 03 Feb 2026 06:36:51 EST news689322961 Possible risk of autism in children. Dormant cancer cells awakening. Accelerating aging of the brain. Federal officials in May 2023 declared an end to the national COVID pandemic. But more than two years later, a growing body of research continues to reveal information about the virus and its ability to cause harm long after initial infections resolve, even in some cases when symptoms were mild. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-trump-policies-odds-emerging-covid.html Mon, 02 Feb 2026 20:20:03 EST news689239108 In a modeling study of women vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV), researchers found that cervical cancer screening could be done far less often than current recommendations without compromising health benefits. For women vaccinated at younger ages, screening just two or three times over a lifetime was both cost‑effective and associated with fewer unnecessary follow‑up procedures, suggesting that existing screening guidelines may be overly intensive for this growing population. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-cervical-cancer-screenings-hpvvaccinated-women.html Mon, 02 Feb 2026 17:00:04 EST news688898821 Every three seconds, someone, somewhere in the world, develops dementia. The number of people living with the condition is projected to rise dramatically, doubling from 78 million in 2020 to 139 million by 2050, making dementia an urgent public health concern of our time. Now, a Canadian study published in The Lancet Neurology found that herpes zoster vaccination, known by the brand name Zostavax, reduced or delayed dementia diagnosis by 2 percentage points over 5.5 years. The benefits were more pronounced in women than in men. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-shingles-vaccination-delayed-dementia-onset.html Mon, 02 Feb 2026 16:30:01 EST news689252676 Since it was first detected in the U.S. in 2014, H5N1 avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, has jumped from wild birds to farm animals and then to people, causing more than 70 human cases in the U.S. since 2022, including two fatalities. The virus continues to circulate among animals, giving it the opportunity to develop the ability to spread among humans and potentially cause another pandemic. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-nasal-bird-flu-vaccine-strong.html Fri, 30 Jan 2026 11:00:01 EST news688927202 A major international study has assessed key bacterial targets that could form the basis of a new maternal vaccine to protect newborns from life-threatening infections. The University of Strathclyde contributed analytical expertise to the global project, as part of a long-standing collaboration with leading clinical scientists from the U.K. and Malawi. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-potential-vaccine-neonatal-sepsis.html Thu, 29 Jan 2026 15:31:30 EST news688923061 Women who receive the influenza or whooping cough vaccine during a twin pregnancy do not face a higher risk of birth complications, University of Queensland researchers have found. The study—which showed 72% of women pregnant with twins were unvaccinated against influenza and whooping cough—has found the vaccines are safe and do not increase the risk of preterm birth, stillbirth or small-for-gestational-age infants. The study is published in the BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-influenza-whooping-vaccines-safe-twin.html Thu, 29 Jan 2026 08:48:49 EST news688898881 A new study has shown for the first time that an experimental vaccine against Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) induces a stable and functional immune response in humans that persists for at least two years after a booster vaccination. The results mark an important step toward an effective MERS vaccine and strengthen the scientific basis for pandemic preparedness. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-prepping-future-pandemics-mers-vaccine.html Wed, 28 Jan 2026 11:15:32 EST news688821301 UVA Health scientists have developed a promising new way to create vaccines that could be faster, cheaper, and easier to distribute than current options. The University of Virginia School of Medicine's Dr. Steven L. Zeichner leads the team that is refining a vaccine-development platform to rapidly produce vaccines during outbreaks such as COVID-19. The approach could be faster to develop than mRNA vaccines and avoid some of their biggest challenges, including the need for constant cold storage. The paper is published in the journal Vaccines. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-team-unveils-simpler-faster-vaccines.html Wed, 28 Jan 2026 07:52:45 EST news688809121 Eliminating cervical cancer is possible. The goal is years away and varies widely by state, according to a new paper by researchers at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, said lead author Trisha Amboree, Ph.D., published in JNCI Cancer Spectrum. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-massachusetts-closest-cervical-cancer-southeastern.html Wed, 28 Jan 2026 04:59:49 EST news688798741 The South Carolina measles outbreak has surpassed the recorded case count in Texas' 2025 outbreak, as health officials have logged almost 600 new cases in just over a month. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-south-carolina-measles-outbreak-surpasses.html Tue, 27 Jan 2026 15:50:02 EST news688751090 Patients were 28% more likely to get a flu shot when they got a text message reminder and their primary care provider already had an order for the shot waiting, new research from the Perelman School of Medicine showed. The study was published in JAMA Internal Medicine. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-combined-patient-clinician-nudges-flu.html Tue, 27 Jan 2026 14:00:01 EST news688744388 Florida may keep some required vaccine mandates after all. Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo made national news in September when he announced a plan to remove all vaccine mandates from state law. But so far, no lawmaker has any bill that would do away with the mandated vaccines, which include required shots for polio, measles, mumps and more. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-florida-bill-vaccine-exemptions-mandates.html Tue, 27 Jan 2026 07:30:35 EST news688721380 As an alternative to new federal vaccine recommendations, the American Academy of Pediatrics released its own childhood vaccine schedule Monday with the backing of a dozen of the nation's most prominent medical groups and associations. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-american-academy-pediatrics-childhood-vaccine.html Mon, 26 Jan 2026 20:30:01 EST news688664168 A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that rare cases of brain inflammation linked to live-attenuated yellow fever and Chikungunya vaccines were due to autoantibodies carried in a small subset of the population, most often older adults. The FDA suspended the U.S. license for the live-attenuated chikungunya vaccine in August 2025 after adverse effects were reported; the only vaccine currently available in the U.S. cannot replicate or cause infection. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-rare-cases-autoantibodies-severe-reactions.html Mon, 26 Jan 2026 15:50:08 EST news688664256 A research team at the LKS Faculty of Medicine, the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed), has developed a novel live-attenuated vaccine candidate, cb1, capable of generating broad immunity against a wide range of beta-coronaviruses with a single intranasal dose. The vaccine not only prevents severe disease, but also effectively blocks viral transmission in animal models, offering a promising strategy for pandemic preparedness against future coronavirus threats. The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-dose-intranasal-vaccine-blocks-coronavirus.html Mon, 26 Jan 2026 09:22:11 EST news688641661 A fast-moving influenza strain nicknamed the "Super-K" flu is catching the attention of scientists and health authorities. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-super-flu.html Thu, 22 Jan 2026 10:15:57 EST news688299301 Amid a surprisingly severe flu season and a COVID-19 resurgence, those highly contagious respiratory illnesses are drawing the largest share of media coverage and public attention. But it is also the season for another respiratory illness, respiratory syncytial virus or RSV, and RSV cases are "elevated in many areas of the country," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-rsv-immunizations-older-pregnant-people.html Wed, 21 Jan 2026 16:50:10 EST news688236541