Kenneth Bender, PharmD, MA

“Real-world” assessment finds nirmatrelvir-ritonavir reduces risk of severe COVID-19 from BA4 and BA5 omicron subvariants.

A booster dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy increases protection of infants from infection and related hospitalization.

Bacterial co-infections with COVID-19 are uncommon, but frequent use of antibiotics has fostered treatment resistance in co-occurring and secondary infections.

Antibiotics are apparently not the only widely used pharmaceuticals that can induce emergence of treatment resistant bacteria.

The mRNA vaccines reduced risk of COVID-19 and related complications in children, with less risk of myocarditis than is associated with the infection.

An analysis of the actions taken to combat antimicrobial resistance in 114 countries finds national action plans easier to develop than to implement.

Preclinical testing suggests that a newly developed SARS-CoV-2 vaccine could protect against current and future variants.

Alternative strategies to increase immunogenicity of COVID-19 vaccines in immunosuppressed kidney transplant recipients are evaluated in clinical trial.

Earlier and higher rates of RSV and other respiratory illnesses following reduced COVID precautions challenge capacity of pediatric units.

The World Health Organization (WHO) describes measures necessary to confront invasive fungal infections from the pathogens posing highest threat and greatest disease burden.

The World Health Organization's fungal priority pathogens list is intended to prompt research, development and policy against the increasing health threat.

Polio outbreak has CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices considering a novel oral vaccine 20 years after shelving its predecessor.

CRISPR edit of proviral DNA tested as potential cure for HIV in first participant of phase 1/2 clinical trial.

Novel β-lactamase inhibitor enmetazobactam with cefepime exceeded noninferiority to piperacillin/tazobactam in complicated UTI, pyelonephritis.

Oral antibiotics after partial completion of intravenous regimen for S aureus bacteremia improves outcomes of persons who inject drugs (PWID), which is a population that often has limited access to treatment.

Largest extended study of outcomes after rare myocarditis from mRNA COVID-19 vaccines finds most recover and regain quality of life.

Occult HBV infection is likely to go undetected in under-resourced regions of high HBV endemicity and confound WHO goal to eradicate the viral hepatitis by 2030.

Progress in rapid diagnostic and point-of-care testing propelled by the pandemic can improve timeliness and precision of anti-infective treatment.

The same 5-year survival rates with kidney transplants from HCV positive and negative donors supports revising HCV "penalty" in ranking donors.

"Real-world" population study finds the oral antivirals authorized for non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients can benefit when started in the hospital.

Reviewers weigh evidence for the benefit of oral PrEP protection from HIV with risk of exacerbating hepatitis B.

Oral antiviral nirmatrelvir/ritonavir is shown to be effective treatment for seniors against Omicron.

The young adult contracting paralytic polio in Rockland County, New York in June is the first since the WHO declared the Americas polio-free in 1994.

WHO guidelines on HIV, hepatitis and STIs focus on populations with high risk of infections but low inclusion in prevention and treatment programs.

WHO issues new HCV treatment recommendations that include "radical simplification" of care pathways, in pursuit of testing and treatment goals.

CDC links 2021 outbreak of tuberculosis in US affecting 113 persons and causing at least 3 deaths to bone grafts from one infected, deceased donor.

Next generation antimalarial monoclonal antibody is three times more potent than predecessor in preventing parasitemia, stopping parasite replicating.

Finding that the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted best antibiotic practices, the CDC announced further efforts to curb treatment-resistant infections.

Implicating adenovirus for hepatitis of unknown cause in children is confounded by its absence in some cases, and from all tested hepatic tissue.

CDC attributes a 15% increase in deaths from antimicrobial-resistant infections in 2020 to impacts of COVID-19 on health and healthcare.