Respiratory Infections News

SAN DIEGO — Some of the biggest developments in infectious diseases in the past 12 months involve a promising treatment for COVID-19, a universal influenza mRNA vaccine candidate and the emergence of vaccine-derived polio, a speaker said.

Following the publication of trial data, corticosteroid administration for patients with severe COVID-19 surged in hospitals, according to study results published in Annals of the American Thoracic Society.

Researchers found that pneumonia patients who were switched early from IV to oral antibiotics had shorter hospital stays and fewer days on antibiotics.

Higher dose corticosteroids heightened the risk for mortality in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 who need oxygen therapy compared with usual care/low dose corticosteroids, according to study results published in The Lancet.

Sleep disturbance was common among patients hospitalized for COVID-19 and was associated with symptoms of long COVID, including breathlessness and reduced lung function, a study found.

HHS announced a $1.1 billion program to keep COVID-19 vaccines and treatments free for uninsured people once the public health and national emergencies end next month in the United States.

Mutations have allowed SARS-CoV-2 to evade previously effective treatments and preventives that have become a crucial tool for reducing severe COVID-19 and have made treating outpatients with COVID-19 more complicated.

Bivalent messenger RNA booster vaccinations were effective for preventing COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths in older adults, according to data presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases.

The FDA’s Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee voted unanimously in favor of approving sulbactam-durlobactam for adults with hospital-acquired and ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia, Innoviva announced Monday.

The FDA on Tuesday authorized a second bivalent COVID-19 vaccine booster shot for adults aged 65 years or older and most immunocompromised patients, among other changes the agency said will simplify the U.S. vaccine schedule.