In the Press

How Richard Riley’s findings about tuberculosis transmission inform our COVID-19 response today.

Neonatal listeriosis is rare and detecting more than one case together would be unlikely without a causal link. Thirty-five instances of neonatal listeriosis where cross-infection occurred in the UK and Ireland were reviewed together with 29 other similar episodes reported elsewhere.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday authorized for emergency use the first COVID-19 test based on breath samples, a system that looks for chemical signatures of infection and can provide a result in about 3 minutes.

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) serogroup O157 is a zoonotic, foodborne gastrointestinal pathogen of major public health concern.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA ARS) recently published a study that observed a population of 181 shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157:H7 strains over a period of 23 years. The study aims to understand how STEC O157:H7 populations evolve over time and provide context into strain relatedness in foodborne illness outbreak investigations. STEC O157:H7 is of particular concern as it can cause serious, and sometimes fatal, foodborne illness.

A history of certain psychiatric disorders may predispose fully vaccinated COVID-19 survivors to reinfection, according to a study of 263,697 US veterans published yesterday in JAMA Network Open.

Live bird markets (LBMs) provide integral hubs for 95% of poultry produced for food. Surveillance systems in LBMs serving smallholder farmers in sub-saharan Africa are often non-functional, and data about public health risks and emerging pathogens are lacking.

This morning, Merck (MSD) announced their investigational pneumococcal conjugate vaccine received Breakthrough Therapy Designation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The 21-valent vaccine, V116, targets serotypes responsible for 85% of all pneumococcal disease.

It has been suggested that indoor exposure to ozone oxidation products contributes materially to the apparent associations between outdoor ozone concentration and morbidity and mortality.

Public health officials in the United States and the United Kingdom are investigating a number of unusual cases of serious hepatitis in young children, the cause or causes of which are currently unknown.