Infectious Disease Alert – April 1, 2025

Shortages of Antimicrobial Agents

Shortages of antimicrobial drugs are frequent and represent a danger to patients and to public health.

Measles Vaccination in Adults in 2025

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated measles vaccination recommendations.

Malaria Management: From ACT to TACT

Artemisinin resistance of Plasmodium falciparum is expanding in Southeast Asia and in parts of Africa. Among older children and adults in West Africa, the addition of low-dose primaquine to standard artemisinin combination therapy successfully blocked gametocyte survival and parasite transmission.

Bacterial Vaginosis: Treat the Man, Too

In a randomized trial, treatment of the regular male partner with oral and topical agents was strongly associated with a reduced risk of recurrence of bacterial vaginosis in the female partner.

New Insights into the Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is an opportunistic gram-negative bacillus with intrinsic resistance to a variety of antibiotics. Since clinical trial data are lacking, the optimal antimicrobial regimen is unknown. These factors make S. maltophilia increasingly challenging for the treating clinician. A recent study by Sader and colleagues analyzed the antimicrobial susceptibility of 1,400 S. maltophilia isolates collected from U.S. medical centers between 2019 and 2023. Aztreonam-avibactam, which inhibited 99.6% of isolates at ≤ 8 mcg/mL, was found to have the highest levels of in vitro activity. Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, which has historically been a preferred agent, had slightly lower activity (96.9% susceptible), followed by minocycline (89.2%) and levofloxacin (78.9%). The results from this in vitro study suggest that aztreonam-avibactam may be a highly effective option for treating S. maltophilia infections, especially in multidrug-resistant cases.

Death Due to the ‘No Name’ Virus in Santa Fe

There is no specific treatment for hantavirus infection and no vaccine. Prevention consists of control and avoidance of rodents and their body fluids and excreta.

Cardiovascular Risk with mRNA COVID Vaccines

A large, nationwide population study in Sweden of the risk of adverse cardiovascular events after messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccinations has shown that, except for rare cases of myopericarditis, severe cardiovascular events, such as myocardial infarction, heart failure, and stroke, are reduced, probably because of the prevention of COVID infection.

Infectious Disease Updates

COVID Monoclonals Needed for PrEP; Oral Camostat Ineffective in COVID-19; Mpox: Lessons Learned from Rio