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Top stories in infectious disease: HIV progress stalls, Samoa struggles with measles outbreak
The CDC’s announcement that reductions in HIV infections in the United States have stalled in recent years was the top story in infectious diseases last week.
Another top story was about a measles outbreak in Samoa, which shut down government and public services for 2 days to assist with a mass vaccination campaign.
‘In this case, stability is not good’: HIV incidence at a standstill in US
Progress in reducing new HIV infections in the United States has stalled in recent years, according to newly published CDC data. Experts said accelerated efforts to diagnose, treat and prevent HIV infection are needed to achieve a 90% reduction in new diagnoses by 2030 — one of the goals of a federal HIV plan announced earlier this year. Read more.
Samoa to halt public, government services to assist in measles outbreak
Samoa shut down all public and government services on Dec. 5 and 6 to assist in a mass vaccination campaign to combat a large measles outbreak that has killed dozens of people, mostly children. Read more.
Antibiotic resistance more common in device-associated HAIs than SSIs
Health care-associated infections, or HAIs, related to the use of medical devices are more likely to be antibiotic resistant than those resulting from surgical procedures, with antimicrobial nonsusceptibility more common among adults than children, according to data from the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network. Read more.
Vaginal gel shows promise for chlamydia, gonorrhea prevention
Evofem Biosciences announced that the vaginal gel Amphora demonstrated a 50% and 78% RR reduction for chlamydia and gonorrhea, respectively, in a phase 2b trial.
The trial, AMPREVENCE, evaluated the safety and efficacy of the vaginal gel for the prevention of urogenital chlamydia and gonorrhea in women. Read more.
MSF: Gavi should stop paying GSK, Pfizer for pneumococcal vaccine
Doctors Without Borders said Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance “should immediately stop giving millions of dollars in financial incentives” to Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline for the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, or PCV, and instead give it to another manufacturer for a more affordable vaccine. Read more.