Infectious Disease Alert – September 1, 2023

Malaria Vaccination: Dangerous, Dubious, or Ready for Prime Time?

Malaria vaccination with the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine is safe and effective. Implementation of the four-dose vaccination regimen for young children in areas of moderate- and high-intensity malaria transmission is in progress — with the expectation that hundreds of thousands of lives could be saved each year.

Oral Penicillin Challenge Found to Be Noninferior to Skin Testing Followed by Oral Challenge in Low-Risk Patients with Reported Penicillin Allergy

A multicenter, randomized clinical trial that compared direct oral penicillin challenge in low-risk patients to skin testing followed by oral challenge found no significant differences. Direct oral penicillin challenge appears to be a safe and effective way to delabel a penicillin allergy.

Oral Antibiotics in Endocarditis: Hitting the Target

Pharmacodynamic/pharmacokinetic analysis of patients in the POET study provides understanding of the efficacy of intravenous-to-oral stepdown antibiotic therapy in patients with endocarditis.

Increasing Reports of Severe Group A Streptococcal Infection

Around the world, rates of severe illness due to group A Streptococcus are increasing. Possible explanations for the increase include immunity-altering, post-pandemic changes in exposure to respiratory pathogens, as well as the emergence of new pathogenic M strains of Streptococcus.

Fatal Flea-Borne Typhus in California

Three fatal cases of flea-borne typhus, which is endemic in Southern California as well as in Texas and Hawaii, occurred in Los Angeles County in 2022 — the first such fatalities in two decades.

Major Cardiovascular Event Risk Reduction with Pitavastatin in People Living with HIV

A large randomized, controlled trial (REPRIEVE) conducted by Grinspoon and colleagues showed that in participants living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) who are at low-to-moderate risk for cardiovascular disease, those who received pitavastatin had a 35% lower risk of experiencing a major adverse cardiovascular event over a follow-up of approximately five years than those who received placebo.