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Khabre desk
Recent reporting, analysis and explainers from the Infectious Diseases desk.
health
Researchers from the UK Health Security Agency and the University of Oxford say genetic material acquired from other bacteria may have made the strain behind a deadly Kent MenB outbreak unusually effective at causing severe disease. The same changes may also help explain why the strain has not continued to spread widely.
health
A medRxiv preprint found that Staphylococcus dominance in endotracheal aspirates was associated with worse 60-day survival among mechanically ventilated patients with culture-confirmed Staphylococcus aureus pneumonia. Sequencing also linked higher bacterial burden to mortality.
health
A preclinical mouse study found that the investigational tuberculosis regimens PaBQU and DBQU acted more slowly in complex lung lesions than in mice without such lesions. The findings identify a possible factor behind their failure to meet a clinical treatment-shortening target.
health
A medRxiv preprint reports that shotgun metagenomic sequencing identified Leptospira genetic material and provided species-level assignments in archived samples from suspected Philippine leptospirosis cases. The method detected pathogenic Leptospira in 60% of qPCR-positive samples that were negative by the microscopic agglutination test.
health
A medRxiv preprint estimates that ensitrelvir post-exposure prophylaxis for high-risk household contacts in Japan would cost JPY 16.82 million per QALY gained. The model found this was unlikely to meet Japan’s JPY 5 million-per-QALY cost-effectiveness threshold.
health
A medRxiv preprint introduces EMERGENe, a phylogenetic framework that estimates how transmissible bacterial traits are acquired and expand. Tests using simulations and 3,745 Shigella sonnei genomes detected known resistance trends and additional emerging traits.
health
A prospective observational study at two tertiary-care hospitals found that broad whole-genome sequencing detected many Gram-negative genomic clusters involving patients without multidrug-resistant isolates or intensive-care exposure. The medRxiv preprint also found that detection increased with sequencing effort and that blood-culture-only surveillance would have identified very few clustered patients.