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Was the 1889-1891 Russian Flu Really Coronavirus?

The 1889-1891 Russian flu pandemic was noted to spread rapidly through Western Europe, Great Britain, and North America. Contemporary clinical reports described prominent gastrointestinal, rheumatologic, and neurologic abnormalities (including loss of taste and smell), and pathologic reports described prominent thrombosis. A molecular clock analysis suggests a beta coronavirus emerged in humans following cross-species transmission around this time.

Is a Cure for HIV Possible Without Stem Cell Transplantation?

In a 30-year-old woman with HIV not on antiretroviral therapy (the “Esperanza patient”), an analysis of 1.188 billion peripheral blood mononuclear cells and 503 million mononuclear cells from placental tissue revealed no genome-intact or replication-competent HIV-1 proviruses. This indicates a sterilizing cure of HIV-1 infection.

Initial Antibiotic Choice for Neonatal Sepsis in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Gram-negative rods are responsible for most neonatal sepsis in low- and middle-income countries. Ampicillin-gentamicin usually has been recommended for presumptive treatment, pending bacteriology results (when such tests are available). The results of a multinational study in Africa and Asia suggest resistance to standard therapy is widespread and that ceftazidime-amikacin might be a better option.

Third Documented HIV Remission Case Emerges

Woman with acute myeloid leukemia underwent stem cell transplant, which apparently sent the virus into remission.

Urgent Need for ‘Universal’ Vaccines for SARS-CoV-2

There is an emerging consensus in the scientific community that is two-fold: COVID-19 is not going away anytime soon, and continuous vaccine boosters eventually could yield diminishing returns. What is needed are new, second-generation vaccines that confer broader immunity against both circulating variants and mutations yet to arise.

APIC Sets New Strategic Priorities Amid COVID-19

Like other healthcare workers, infection preventionists have been overwhelmed in the churning waves of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. An unpublished survey conducted by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology and The Ohio State University School of Nursing revealed a “startling” level of stress and burnout.

Omicron ‘Milder’ Infection View Skewed by Prior Immunity

The COVID-19 omicron variant has been widely observed to cause “milder” disease, but this appears largely to be an illusion caused by the level of immunity via prior infection or vaccination that now exists in the human population.

Infectious Disease Experts Sound Alarm on True Toll of RSV

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is something of a contradiction: The leading cause of hospitalization of infants in the United States (58,000 annually) is largely unappreciated beyond the pediatric population. In what essentially is a hidden seasonal epidemic, RSV causes 177,000 hospitalizations and 14,000 deaths annually in the United States in those age 65 years and older.

Clindamycin Vaginal Gel 2% (Xaciato)

Clindamycin gel can be prescribed to treat bacterial vaginosis in women age 12 years and older.

Screen Older Heart Failure Patients for Transthyretin Cardiac Amyloidosis

A screening study of heart failure patients ≥ age 60 years, left ventricular ejection fraction ≥ 40%, and left ventricle wall thickness ≥ 12 mm revealed 6.3% prevalence of transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis, a highly treatable disease.