Healthcare & Laboratory News

Infectious Disease Advisor (5/7, Basilio) reports a study found that Rebyota (fecal microbiota, live-jslm) “is safe and efficacious against recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) in patients with immunocompromising conditions.” Researchers observed that “in the 8 weeks following RBL administration, 44.7% of immunocompromised patients and 48.0% of immunocompetent patients experienced” treatment-emergent adverse effects (TEAEs). Patients with immunocompromising conditions “exhibited lower rates of infection but higher rates of severe TEAEs during this period when compared with those who were immunocompetent.” Overall, immunocompromised and immunocompetent patients “achieved similar rates of treatment success (75.7% and 73.3%, respectively) and sustained clinical response through 6 months (88.7% and 91.6%, respectively). Moreover, the researchers noted comparable efficacy outcomes across the subgroups.” The study was published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

The New York Times (5/7, Zimmer) reports a study published in the journal Cell compared “the evolutionary story of SARS” with COVID-19 some 17 years later. The researchers “analyzed the genomes of the two coronaviruses that caused the pandemics, along with 248 related coronaviruses in bats and other mammals.” In both cases, they argue “a coronavirus jumped from bats to wild mammals in southwestern China. In a short period of time, wildlife traders took the infected animals hundreds of miles to city markets, and the virus wreaked havoc in humans.” The study comes a month after the Trump Administration launched a website “asserting that the pandemic had been caused not by a market spillover but by an accident in a lab in Wuhan, China.” Public health experts fear “the incendiary language” between the US and Chinese governments may “make it difficult for scientists to investigate – and debate – the origin of Covid.”

Infectious Disease Advisor (5/7, Basilio) reports a study found that “among new broad-spectrum antibiotics with gram-negative activity, ceftazidime-avibactam and ceftolozane-tazobactam are the most commonly prescribed among inpatients. However, uptake of new gram-negative antibiotics remains lower than that of older agents such as piperacillin-tazobactam.” Researchers observed that the most frequently prescribed new antibiotic among hospitals in the study “was ceftolozane-tazobactam (42.6%), followed by ceftazidime-avibactam (37.5%), eravacycline (12.4%), cefiderocol (10.9%), meropenem-vaborbactam (4.7%), omadacycline (1.1%), and imipenem-cilastatin-relebactam (0.9%).” They concluded, “Though new Gram-negative antibiotics are not used nearly as frequently as workhorses like piperacillin-tazobactam, their use has largely surpassed less effective and more toxic antibiotics like colistin.” The study was published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

The AP (5/7, Johnson) reports researchers from Moderna said in a study published Wednesday in JAMA that a combination shot for flu and COVID-19 using messenger RNA “generated a stronger immune response against COVID-19 and most strains of flu than existing standalone shots in people 50 and older.” The mRNA technology is already “used in approved COVID-19 and RSV shots, but has not yet been approved for a flu shot.”

The New York Times (5/6, Caryn Rabin) reports that the NIH “will no longer allow American scientists to direct its funding to research partners overseas, casting doubt on the future of studies on subjects including malaria and childhood cancer.” NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya “announced the policy on Thursday.”

NBC News (5/6, Bendix) reports, “The Trump administration has terminated” the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC), “a federal advisory committee that issued guidance about preventing the spread of infections in health care facilities.” HICPAC “crafted national standards for hand-washing, mask-wearing and isolating sick patients that most U.S. hospitals follow.”

HealthDay (5/6, Thompson) reports a study found that “newborns can be effectively protected against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection through the use of nirsevimab, a monoclonal antibody treatment.” Researchers observed that “babies treated with nirsevimab had an 83% reduced risk of hospitalization due to RSV infection.” Furthermore, nirsevimab “also reduced the risk of intensive care admissions by 81% and instances of lower respiratory tract infections by 75% in children younger than 1 year old, results show.” Researchers concluded, “Our findings underscore the importance of infant immunization programs in alleviating the health and economic burden of RSV disease in the high-risk period following birth.” The study was published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health.

MedPage Today (5/6, Haelle) reports a study presented at DDW 2025 suggests that “a new blood test can predict the development of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) up to 16 years before it occurs.” Researchers said that “an increase in the plasma concentrations of five proteins, combined with identification of clinical risk factors, could predict development of MASLD, with 90% accuracy up to 5 years early, 84% accuracy up to 10 years early, and 81% accuracy up to 16 years early.” They explained, “The five key proteins, each demonstrating high independent predictive power individually, can serve as practical biomarkers, marking a significant improvement over current models and increasing clinical applicability for routine use.”’

Reuters (5/5, Santhosh) says the Texas Department of State Health Services reported Tuesday a total of 702 cases of measles, an increase of 19 cases since Friday. Measles cases in Gaines County, “the center of the outbreak, increased to 403 from 396 since the last update.” According to the CDC, as of May 1, there has been a “total of 935 confirmed measles cases...reported by 30 jurisdictions, with 12 outbreaks reported this year.”

Infectious Disease Advisor (5/5, Basilio) reports a study found that “factors such as structural racism and disinvestment in rural communities may predict individual health care-associated infection (HAI) risk and adverse HAI outcomes among adult inpatients.” Among patients who developed HAIs, researchers observed that “the median length of hospital stay was 19 days, and the median number of inpatient days prior to infection onset was 7. The researchers observed the highest rate of HAIs among Black rural patients (4.1%), followed by White rural (3.9%), White urban (3.1%), and Black urban patients (2.7%). In the adjusted analysis, the risk for HAI was lower among Black vs White urban patients and higher among White rural vs White urban patients.” In addition, “the overall rate of HAI-associated mortality was 17.5%, with the highest risk observed among Black rural patients.” The study was published in JAMA Network Open.