Respiratory Infections News

Data reported during IDWeek showed that the 2019-2020 influenza vaccine was 62% effective among children, including 55% effective against influenza B despite a poor match for circulating B viruses, researchers reported.

COVIDIQ, a text messaging platform that collects self-reported COVID-19 symptoms, successfully identified a Florida region’s spike in COVID-19 cases weeks before it was reported by the Florida Department of Health, researchers reported.

A small study in New York found no difference in outcomes among patients with COVID-19 compared with patients who had both influenza and COVID-19, according to data presented at IDWeek.

Data from more than 80 Veterans Affairs facilities showed a substantial increase in antibiotic use during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising to levels not seen since 2016, according to data presented at IDWeek.

The FDA has approved Gilead Science’s antiviral IV drug remdesivir — also known as Veklury — for adults and children aged older than 12 years when treatment of COVID-19 requires hospitalization.

A study presented at IDWeek underscored the need to identify clinical and laboratory features that distinguish multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children from other similar illnesses, researchers said.

People with Down syndrome were more likely than those without the disorder to be hospitalized and die from COVID-19-related complications, according to a new report published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

A local New Jersey health department was able to investigate and effectively trace contacts for more than 6,000 COVID-19 cases despite having limited resources, according to a presentation at IDWeek.

As scientists test treatments and vaccines against COVID-19, we asked Infectious Disease News Editorial Board Member Peter Chin-Hong, MD, professor of medicine and director of the transplant infectious disease program at the University of California, San Francisco, which populations are being left out of COVID-19 research and what needs to happen to make the process more inclusive.

It is hard to know where to start. There are so many wonderful things about a career in infectious diseases.