White House: 70% Of Americans 30 Or Older Have Received Coronavirus Vaccine
More than 70% of Americans age 30 or older have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, the White House said, even as President Joe Biden is set to fall short of reaching his goal of giving a shot to the same percentage of all American adults by Independence Day. The Biden administration is releasing […]
Older Adults Should Get Another COVID Booster, CDC Advisors Say
Adults ages 65 and older should receive an additional dose of the 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine this spring, according to CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Eleven members of the committee voted in favor of the recommendation, one member voted no, and one abstained from voting. Shortly after the meeting, CDC Director Mandy Cohen, MD, […]
Single Dose of Antibiotic Cured Early Syphilis, Even in Those With HIV
BOSTON — One dose of benzathine penicillin G for the treatment of early syphilis was shown to be noninferior to a regimen of three weekly doses a week apart, even among people who are living with HIV, a randomized trial showed. At 6 months among patients with and without HIV, the cumulative response was 76% […]
THC Dose of Edible Cannabis Tied to Degree of Toxicity in Young Kids
The tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) dose of edible cannabis correlated to the degree of toxicity in children under 6 years, a retrospective review showed. Among 80 kids with a median age of 2.9 years, THC weight-based dose was a significant predictor of severe toxicity (adjusted OR 2.9, 95% CI 1.8-4.7) and prolonged toxicity (aOR 3.2, 95% CI […]
IMRT Dosing Strategy Eases Dysphagia in Head and Neck Cancer
In patients with head and neck cancer, a strategy to reduce the radiation dose to dysphagia-and aspiration-related structures improved swallowing and other functional outcomes compared with standard intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), according to results from the phase III DARS trial. Patients treated with dysphagia-optimized (DO) IMRT had significantly higher patient-reported composite scores on the MD Anderson […]
Potential ‘Game Changer’ for Leprosy Prevention
A single dose of rifapentine reduced the incidence of leprosy among household contacts of patients with the infectious disease, a cluster-randomized trial out of China found. In an intention-to-treat analysis, the cumulative incidence of leprosy among 7,450 household contacts was 0.09% with an oral dose of rifapentine over 4 years of follow-up, as compared with […]
One Dose of Acoziborole Led to Cure of ‘Sleeping Sickness’ Across Disease Stages
A single dose of oral acoziborole proved to be efficacious and safe for adults and adolescents with gambiense human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), also known as “sleeping sickness,” suggesting its promise in interrupting transmission, a single-arm phase II/III trial showed. Over 18 months of follow-up, the treatment success rate was 95.2% in those with late-stage disease […]
Treatment De-Escalation Shows Promise in Testicular Cancer
A reduced dose of chemotherapy and involved node radiotherapy (INRT) may be viable for patients with stage IIA or IIB seminoma of the testis, results from a phase II study suggested. In a group of 116 patients, a single-dose of carboplatin along with de-escalated INRT yielded a 3-year progression-free survival (PFS) rate of 93.7% (90% […]
CDC: Monovalent Vax Has ‘Limited’ Protection Against BA.4/5 Hospitalization
A monovalent mRNA booster dose offered “limited” protection against COVID-related hospitalizations from the currently circulating Omicron variants, a CDC analysis found, likely due to the waning effects of the vaccines and potentially more immune evasion with BA.4/BA.5. In immunocompetent adults, vaccine effectiveness (VE) against hospitalization with three doses of mRNA vaccine dropped from 69% (95% […]
Breakthrough Monkeypox Cases Seen Weeks After Second Jynneos Dose
Most cases of monkeypox post-vaccination occurred within 2 weeks of the first Jynneos dose, a single-center study found, but some breakthrough cases developed weeks after a second dose of the vaccine. Of 90 individuals who tested positive for monkeypox after a single dose of Jynneos at a large monkeypox testing and vaccination site, 77% of […]