Infection News

Approximately 25% of immunocompromised patients have received a fifth vaccine dose, according to survey results released by the Global Healthy Living Foundation.

Patients with systemic lupus erythematous achieved an improved serological response following a booster COVID-19 vaccine dose, according to data collected during the omicron BA.1 wave in New York and published in The Lancet Rheumatology.

Between rapidly increasing case counts and a flood of misinformation reported online and in media, the facts surrounding the current monkeypox outbreak around the world and in the United States might indicate some cause for alarm.

B-cell depleting agents, glucocorticoids and mycophenolate mofetil have all been associated with reduced antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, noted a presenter at the 2022 Association of Women in Rheumatology Annual Conference.

There remain more questions than available answers on the topic of long COVID, but rheumatologists should be prepared to meet the challenges presented by the disease for “the rest of our careers,” according to Leonard H. Calabrese, DO.

Patients who suspended methotrexate for 2 weeks after a COVID-19 booster vaccine had a “twofold” increased antibody response, compared with those who remained on the drug, according to data published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

The Lupus Research Alliance has awarded the 2022 Lupus Insight Prize to Akiko Iwasaki, PhD, for her work connecting endogenous retroviruses and systemic lupus erythematosus.

Infants who have been exposed to tumor necrosis factor inhibitors in utero should receive the rotavirus vaccine in the first 6 months of life, according to new recommendations from the American College of Rheumatology.

When a tetanus toxoid vaccination is indicated, pediatric patients treated with B-cell depleting therapy in the past 6 months should receive passive immunization, according to updated EULAR vaccine recommendations.

Patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases receiving B-cell depleting therapies are at risk for COVID-19 regardless of vaccine status, but outpatient use of monoclonal antibodies improves clinical outcomes, according to data.