Volume 219, Issue 7, 1 April 2019

This updated and thorough review and meta-analyses supports the continued use of the human papillomavirus vaccine as an adjuvant treatment of recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, because significantly fewer surgical procedures per month are required after vaccination.

Pimodivir is a first-in-class inhibitor of the influenza virus polymerase basic protein 2. This dose-ranging study was designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of pimodivir in patients with naturally acquired influenza A virus infection and to evaluate the optimal dose for further development.

Current serological assays that detect antiviral antibodies suffer from low sensitivity and high cross-reactivity. Utilizing a novel Magnetic Modulation Biosensing system and the Zika non-structural 1 protein, we achieved 88–97% sensitivity, much higher than the current state-of-the-art ELISA.

Through an intensive, active surveillance of human rhinovirus (HRV) in households, we observed continuous invasion and high diversity of HRV. Individual repeat infections were frequent, decreasing with age, and almost invariably heterotypic, indicative of lasting type-specific immunity and low cross-type protection.

Oral herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) shedding rates, host cellular responses, and genotyped viral strains were characterized in monozygotic and dizygotic twins to determine whether the HSV-1 infection severity is influenced by host or viral genotype. Viral strain characteristics contribute to oral HSV-1 shedding rates.

β– and γ–human papillomaviruses (HPVs) were common in oral samples from healthy mid-adult women. Oral β-HPV detection was associated with increasing age, greater lifetime number of oral sex partners, and concurrent detection of the same β-HPV type in fingernails.

Plasma from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–positive participants who were not receiving antiretroviral therapy significantly reduced the function of endothelial colony-forming cells. The inability of these progenitor cells to regenerate into new blood vessels may be a contributing factor to the higher risk of cardiovascular disease in HIV-positive patients.

Phenotypic screens identified 14 drugs active against Naegleria fowleri, the causative agent of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis. In vitro and in vivo data demonstrate that posaconazole is a potent, rapidly acting drug with potential for enhancing treatment of this usually fatal disease.

Three rounds of indoor residual spraying were associated with significant reduction in clinical malaria and parasite prevalence; however, a proportion of the proportion remained parasitemic. These parasites could serve as a reservoir for onward transmission.

We compared artemether-lumefantrine and dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DHA-PQ) for malaria treatment in Uganda. Treatment failure was rare for both regimens (<3%), but DHA-PQ was associated with a lower risk of recurrent infection. Unlike prior studies, neither regimen selected for markers of drug resistance.

During a 3-year case-control study coupled with genotyping, a Cryptosporidium species shift and different risk factors for sporadic cryptosporidiosis, by species, were identified. Improved hygiene to limit person-to-person transmission is required, and asymptomatic carriers could account for many secondary cases.

In this study, a meningococcal native outer membrane vesicle (NOMV) vaccine with genetically attenuated endotoxin and over-expressed Factor H binding protein elicited bactericidal antibodies against both meningococcus and gonococcus, which represents a promising approach to develop a cross-protective Neisserial vaccine.

Multilocus sequence typing of Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum was performed on samples collected from patients with ulcers or skin lesions in Cuba. More than 90% of the patients were infected with macrolide-resistant treponemes. Any potential tetracycline-resistant T. pallidum mutations was found.

We investigated a novel approach of DNA-mediated gene transfer of anti-OspA human immunoglobulin G1 monoclonal antibodies that provide protection against Lyme disease. Our results represent the first demonstration of employing DNA transfer to produce antibodies that block transmission by Borrelia-infected ticks.

We compared the human transcriptomic response in nasal and blood samples from children with acute viral respiratory infection and controls. Nasal gene expression signatures were as good or better than blood signatures for discriminating between symptomatic, asymptomatic, and uninfected children.

We used mice from the Collaborative Cross, a panel of recombinant inbred mouse strains, to demonstrate that distinct innate and adaptive immune phenotypes before and after West Nile virus infection correlate with protection from neuroinvasion and disease.