Top in ID: Novavax booster trial; Asian mosquito linked to malaria outbreak in Africa
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Novavax’s original COVID-19 vaccine and omicron subvariant vaccine candidate were both successful in a phase 3 trial that tested the efficacy of the vaccines as a second booster dose, according to the company.
Researchers found no benefit from a bivalent shot combining Novavax's original vaccine and omicron subvariant. It was the top story in infectious disease last week.
The second top story was about a mosquito species native to South Asia that has been a catalyst for malaria outbreaks in Africa.
“Malaria in Africa is typically associated with rainy seasons in rural areas, but this mosquito produced a 10-fold spike in malaria infections in just 3 weeks in an urban area during a dry season,” Fitsum G. Tadesse, PhD, a molecular biologist at the Armauer Hansen Research Institute in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, said in a press release.
Read these and more top stories in infectious disease below:
Two Novavax shots perform well in COVID-19 booster trial, company says
Novavax said that its omicron subvariant vaccine candidate and original COVID-19 vaccine both performed well in a phase 3 trial testing three vaccines as a second booster dose. Read more.
Invasive Asian mosquito ‘can survive anywhere,’ could alter malaria landscape in Africa
The Asian mosquito Anopheles stephensi, linked to a 40-fold increase in malaria cases in Djibouti over the last decade, has been blamed for an unprecedented dry-season malaria outbreak in Ethiopia, according to a study. Read more.
Patients with disseminated gonococcal infection lack usual symptoms
Many patients associated with a disseminated gonococcal infections outbreak in California lacked usual symptoms and were not included in the screening groups, according to an outbreak assessment published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Read more.
Invasive species, urbanization raise risk for Everglades virus spillover in Florida
Scientists should conduct routine surveillance of Everglades virus — a subtype of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus — endemic to South Florida because it has the potential to jump to humans, researchers said. Read more.
High nasal and total SARS-CoV-2 RNA levels associated with longer recovery
Respiratory tract and total body burden of SARS-CoV-2 infection could predict how long patients will take to recover and provide insight into long COVID, according to a recent study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Read more.