Top in ID: Efficacy of updated COVID-19 vaccines; challenges of delivering rural ID care

The updated COVID-19 vaccines were 54% effective against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection and offered protection against JN.1 and XBB viral lineages, according to early estimates published by the CDC.

“Updated COVID-19 vaccines provide protection against symptomatic infection, including against currently circulating lineages,” CDC epidemiologist Ruth Link-Gelles, PhD, and colleagues wrote in MMWR. “CDC will continue monitoring [vaccine efficacy], including for expected waning and against severe disease.”

It was the top story in infectious disease last week.

In another top story, Healio checked in with experts about how ID care is delivered in rural America and how facilities are working to close the gap in coverage using technology and lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We're all kind of clustered in more suburban or urban areas,” Caitlyn Hollingshead, MD, assistant professor of medicine and director of telemedicine for the division of infectious diseases at the University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences in Ohio, said in an interview. “The singular challenge is to get a physician to rural areas, and there are many, many places that don't have any access to [ID care] whatsoever and are kind of just left to their own devices.”

Read these and more top stories in infectious disease below:

Updated COVID-19 vaccines effective against variants, new data show

The updated COVID-19 vaccines were approximately 54% effective against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection and offered protection against JN.1 and XBB viral lineages, according to early estimates published last week by the CDC. Read more.

‘There aren’t many of us’: The challenges of delivering rural ID care

Despite the importance of the specialty of infectious diseases in modern medicine — made all the more evident by the COVID-19 pandemic — many rural areas of the United States do not have access to specialized ID care. Read more.

Hundreds of foodborne outbreaks may go undetected in US each year

Researchers estimated that hundreds of small foodborne disease outbreaks may go undetected in the United States each year, based on a statistical analysis of data from the last 2-plus decades. Read more.

Oral therapy noninferior to IV for treating low-risk S. aureus bloodstream infections

Making an early switch to oral antibiotic therapy from IV therapy is safe and effective for patients with low-risk Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection, researchers determined. Read more.

Gonorrhea cases decline for first time in decade, but syphilis continues to surge

Reported cases of gonorrhea in the United States declined for the first time in at least a decade in 2022 while cases of chlamydia remained stagnant and syphilis continued its years-long surge, data released by the CDC on Tuesday showed. Read more.