Infection Control News

COVID-19 placed a strain on infection prevention and control programs, highlighting vulnerabilities that existed before the pandemic, according to experts.

The manufacturers of the COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use as additional booster shots in the United States all released positive clinical trial data on their retooled shots ahead of the start of the holiday season.

The risk for severe disease or death among U.S. adults with COVID-19 was highest for unvaccinated inpatients and those infected with the delta variant, according to a recent study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Experts argued for the development of COVID-19 vaccines that can be delivered at the site of infection, but questioned whether it is possible to make a mucosal vaccine that prevents SARS-CoV-2 infection — and not just severe disease.

The Biden administration announced that U.S. households will be able to order four free at-home rapid COVID tests from the U.S. Postal Service.

Two randomized, placebo-controlled trials of three Ebola vaccine regimens demonstrated that they are safe and spur lasting antibodies in both children and adults, according to findings reported in The New England Journal of Medicine.

The CDC and Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists published a revised case definition of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, a potentially serious complication of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The Biden administration is offering free at-home COVID-19 tests again as part of a winter preparedness plan announced by the White House amid an increase in cases that officials linked to indoor gatherings.

The prevalence of bacterial infections in hospitalized infants — after rising during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic — fell to prepandemic levels earlier this year, according to a study published in Pediatrics.

CDC researchers published a resource for providers that outlines the epidemiology and clinical features of mpox in children and adolescents and how it can be diagnosed and managed.