Top in ID: Effectiveness of masks against COVID-19; recurrent CDI treatment
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A recent review of randomized controlled trials — most of which were conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic — has become part of the debate on the effectiveness of masks in preventing the spread of respiratory illnesses.
Linsey C. Marr, PhD, the Charles P. Lunsford Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech University and an expert on airborne virus transmission and mask technology, spoke with Healio about what the review does and does not say about masks and COVID-19.
“We know from physics that a good quality mask acts like a filter, trapping almost all the virus particles in the air that you would otherwise breathe in from the air around you,” she said. “This reduces your dose of virus and reduces the chance that you might become infected.”
It was the top story in infectious disease last week.
Another top story was about the effectiveness of bezlotoxumab vs. fecal microbiota transplantation in preventing recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection. Researchers found that the treatments were similarly effective.
Read these and more top stories in infectious disease below:
Q&A: What a major review does and does not tell us about masks and COVID-19
An updated analysis published in The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews has fueled debate about the effectiveness of masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Read more.
Bezlotoxumab, fecal microbiota transplant similarly effective in preventing recurrent CDI
Bezlotoxumab and fecal microbiota transplantation were similarly effective at preventing both early and late recurrent C. difficile infection, according to a study published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases. Read more.
COVID-related nonpharmaceutical interventions led to decline in invasive bacterial disease
Pandemic-related nonpharmaceutical interventions likely contributed to the decline in invasive bacterial disease incidence in the U.S. in 2020, not reductions in testing, according to a study in The Journal of Infectious Diseases. Read more.
Amid outbreaks, Marburg vaccine shows promise in human trial
An experimental vaccine against Marburg virus showed promise in a first-in-human phase 1 trial and could one day be used to stop outbreaks of the disease, the NIH said. Read more.
Volberding: COVID-19, HIV get spotlight at first in-person CROI in 4 years
After 3 years as an all-virtual meeting, the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections returns this year to an in-person format at the new Summit Convention Center in Seattle. Read more.