Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
First-Trimester COVID Vaccination Not Linked to Major Birth Defects
MedPageToday Large study reinforces recent research demonstrating mRNA vaccine safety in pregnancy. There were 176.6 major congenital malformations (MCMs) per 10,000 infants exposed to first-trimester COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, compared with 179.4 per 10,000 infants not exposed to the vaccines. There were no associations between mRNA vaccine exposure and MCMs by organ system. There was no […]
Oct 15, 2025
Nirmatrelvir-Ritonavir Reduces Long COVID Risk in Older Adults, Not Adolescents
Vaccine Advisor In nonhospitalized patients, treatment of acute COVID-19 with nirmatrelvir-ritonavir reduced long COVID risk in older vs younger adults, supporting its use in high-risk patients to prevent both acute severity and long-term sequelae. Treatment of acute COVID-19 with nirmatrelvir-ritonavir is associated with a lower risk of developing long COVID in adults aged 50 years […]
Oct 15, 2025
Young Women With Symptomatic Long COVID At Higher Risk of POTS
Pharmacy Times In a Swedish cohort, young women with symptomatic long COVID were found to be at higher risk of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), conferring additional burden. A cohort of predominantly younger women with highly symptomatic post-COVID-19 sequalae (PCS), also known as long COVID, demonstrated common incidence of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), according […]
Oct 15, 2025
Association of 2024–2025 Covid-19 Vaccine with Covid-19 Outcomes in U.S. Veterans
NEJM We conducted an observational study that used the electronic health records of the Department of Veterans Affairs to evaluate the effectiveness of the 2024–2025 Covid-19 vaccine among veterans who received the Covid-19 and influenza vaccines on the same day (164,132 participants) and in an active-comparator group of veterans who received the influenza vaccine only […]
Oct 15, 2025
Veterans study finds updated COVID-19 shot reduces hospital visits and death
Medical Xpress Veterans Research and Education Foundation of St. Louis reports that the 2024–2025 COVID-19 vaccine was associated with lower risks of COVID-19–related emergency visits, hospitalizations, and deaths in a national cohort of U.S. veterans. The pandemic is not over, but conditions have shifted greatly. Since the initial outbreak spread around the world, SARS-CoV-2 has accumulated mutations that alter its severity, while […]
Oct 15, 2025
Ebola – Operation Update #1
IFRC The 16th outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has occurred in the province of Kasai. It was declared on September 4, 2025, by the Minister of Public Health, Hygiene and Prevention. As of October 6th, the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the […]
Oct 15, 2025
Ebola virus in Kasai revives 50-year-old questions on viral latency
The Lancet On Sept 4, 2025, DR Congo declared its 16th Ebola virus outbreak. The epicentre of this outbreak occurred in the Kasai province—the first resurgence in this region since 2008.1 Genomic analysis identified an Ebola virus with more than 99·5% identity to the lineage that was responsible for the first outbreak in Yambuku in 1976.2 Instead […]
Oct 15, 2025
Republic of Congo reinforces measures to curb potential Ebola outbreak
WHO Africa The Republic of Congo has stepped up measures to rapidly detect and respond to potential Ebola outbreak as neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo faces a new outbreak of the virus in Kasai Province in the central region of the country. A rapid scale up of outbreak control measures in the Democratic Republic […]
Oct 15, 2025
H5N1 influenza virus stability and transmission risk in raw milk and cheese
Nature Highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 viruses have recently spread to dairy cattle, with high levels of virus detected in milk from affected animals, raising concern about the risk posed by unpasteurized dairy products consumed by humans. Here we evaluated H5N1 virus persistence in raw-milk cheeses (n = 3 per condition) made with milk acidified to pH […]
Oct 15, 2025
Bird flu virus survives in raw-milk cheese for months
Medical News.net A new study published in Nature Medicine reveals that highly pathogenic avian influenza virus can remain infectious for up to 120 days under certain pH conditions in raw-milk cheese produced from contaminated milk. This finding raises serious public health concerns, as contaminated raw-milk products can potentially increase human exposure to the virus. The highly pathogenic […]
Oct 15, 2025