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Khabre desk
Recent reporting, analysis and explainers from the Infectious Diseases desk.
health
A medRxiv preprint reports that NG-TEST Acineto-5 detected all targeted carbapenemases in a 433-isolate evaluation, with no false positives among isolates lacking them. Four of five Acinetobacter radioresistens isolates carrying an intrinsic OXA-23-like gene produced weak positive signals.
health
A Global Burden of Disease analysis estimates that pertussis incidence and age-standardized mortality declined between 1990 and 2023. Its modeled estimates show that the highest population-adjusted mortality risk remained among infants aged 1–5 months.
health
A medRxiv preprint assesses where Japanese encephalitis virus circulated in Australia during 2021–23 and where environmental conditions were suitable for transmission. It identifies northern floodplains and inland eastern areas as regions with both high estimated suitability and strong evidence of circulation.
health
A Nature Medicine correspondence proposes tracking how quickly Ebola alerts lead to investigation, isolation and care, alongside conventional surveillance coverage. It cites DRC outbreak figures showing high reported case and death totals despite extensive alert investigation and contact follow-up.
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.