PPIL to offer free monthly STI testing
Planned Parenthood of Illinois will start to offer free sexually transmitted infection testing at all its clinics.
Southern Nevada cases reported in national Salmonella outbreak
LAS VEGAS— The Southern Nevada Health District has identified four cases of Salmonella infection in Clark County associated with a multistate outbreak linked to brown cage free and brown certified organic eggs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is leading a coordinated investigation into the outbreak, which currently involves cases reported in several […]
How Often Should Immunocompromised People Get a COVID Booster?
Preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection in immunocompromised people hasn’t gotten any easier as the pandemic trundles on into its fifth year. The monoclonal antibody tixagevimab-cilgavimab (Evusheld) has long gone by the wayside for pre-exposure prophylaxis and no replacements are on the horizon. Other prevention strategies among the general population, such as mask-wearing, have all but disappeared. Vaccination […]
‘Vampire Facials’ at Spa Linked to HIV Infections
DENVER — Five cases of HIV infection associated with cosmetic platelet-rich plasma (PRP) microneedling, known as a “vampire facial,” were linked to one spa in New Mexico, according to a report from CDC investigators. From 2018 to 2023, four former clients of the spa and one sexual partner of a client were diagnosed with HIV, […]
Opinion | Hospital-at-Home Could Be a Double-Edged Sword
Knighton is a nurse, scientist, and infection preventionist. By now, you’ve likely heard of the emerging care model of “hospital-at-home,” which enables patients who require acute hospital care to receive it in the comfort of their own homes. Given persisting healthcare worker shortages, hospital closures, and increasing costs of care, innovative patient care models are […]
The Biggest Early Warning Signs Of A COVID-19 Infection Now
ingwervanille via Getty Images The first signs of a COVID-19 infection vary from person to person. We’re still very much in the throes of winter ― and that means we’re still dealing with lots of respiratory viruses. This includes COVID. Overall, COVID cases “are down a little bit in most places … we were, from […]
Bivalent Vax Protected Kids From Symptomatic COVID
During the 2022-2023 respiratory season, the bivalent COVID vaccines had an effectiveness of 54% against infection and 49% against symptomatic COVID in children and adolescents ages 5 to 17 years, a new study in JAMA showed. In this interview, Melissa Briggs Hagen, MD, MPH, of the CDC’s Coronavirus and Other Respiratory Viruses Division, discusses the […]
Most Immunocompromised Patients Clear Omicron Infections
Prolonged SARS-CoV-2 infection during the Omicron period was uncommon among patients who were moderately to severely immunocompromised, a prospective multicenter study found. Among the 150 individuals included in the analysis, 25% had prolonged infection lasting 21 days or more as detected by RT-PCR, and only 8% had a positive viral culture at 21 days or […]
Here’s How Common Long COVID Is in Children
Six to 12 months after COVID-19 infection, very few children developed post-COVID-19 conditions (PCCs) as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), a prospective Canadian study found. At 6 months after being tested for SARS-CoV-2 in pediatric emergency departments (EDs), just 0.52% of children who tested positive had symptoms and changes in quality of life […]
Very Early ART Can Result in Sustained HIV Suppression in Neonates
In neonates with acquired in utero HIV infection, administration of antiretroviral therapy (ART) within 48 hours of life can lead to sustained HIV virological suppression by 2 years, a phase I/II proof-of-concept study indicated. In two cohorts who received three-drug nevirapine-based ART regimens within two days of life and maintained protocol- defined virological control criteria […]