Volume 225, Issue 8, 15 April 2022

In nonhospitalized individuals, COVID-19–related decline of lung function was small but measurable and comparable to published minimal clinically important differences for FEV₁and FVC.

This human research study quantifies the effect of face coverings on the reduction of droplet and aerosol emission from human respiratory function. Speech and cough scenarios were tested to recommend safe social distance in the context of pandemics like COVID-19.

A single HIV virus is usually transmitted. HIV then replicates, making errors, and over time genetic diversity increases. We found that time since HIV infection can be estimated from within-patient HIV genetic diversity, even when patients are on treatment.

The prevalence of clonal hematopoiesis mutations adjusted for age was increased and clone size was larger in people with HIV compared to uninfected controls. These mutations were associated with low CD4 nadir, increased residual HIV-1 transcriptional activity, and coagulation factors.

Comparing people with HIV (PWH) to matched people without HIV over a 20-year follow up, we report an increased risk for composite cardiovascular disease, stroke, ischemic heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and all-cause mortality for PWH.

Respiratory syncytial virus stabilized prefusion F subunit vaccine (RSVpreF) formulations were well tolerated and highly immunogenic in younger adults. These findings support further development of RSVpreF in a pivotal phase 3 study for maternal immunization.

Molecular and epidemiological data from multiple human monkeypox exportations from Nigeria show no direct linkage between travelers; however, limited genetic variation among sequenced viruses point to a possible common source pool or independently acquired infections within a small geographic area.

Easily measured environmental surveillance site characteristics, including sewage properties recorded with a water-quality probe, predict site sensitivity to detect poliovirus and other enteroviruses. Data collection during site selection could identify better sites and improve the sensitivity of global poliovirus surveillance.

During 2016–2017 and 2017–2018 influenza A(H3N2) epidemics, updated clade 3C.2a vaccine bore egg-adaptation mutations and circulating 3C.2a viruses showed substantial genetic diversity. Vaccine effectiveness by phylogenetic subcluster and prior vaccination history reveal informative heterogeneity underpinning subtype-specific findings.

We described the first-in-man study of a replication-deficient arenavirus-based vector, HB-101, expressing cytomegalovirus gB and pp65. Consecutive administrations of HB-101 were well tolerated and elicited gB-binding and neutralizing antibodies as well as cytomegalovirus-specific CD8 T-cell responses in healthy volunteers.

A phase 2 clinical study was conducted in Mali, Gabon, Ghana, Uganda, and Rwanda. Patients with malaria were randomized to artemether-lumefantrine or cipargamin. Here we report an allele frequency of 22% for R561H in Rwanda and associated delayed parasite clearance.

This study evaluated 1 year of programmatic mass drug administration (pMDA) on malaria incidence in southern Zambia and found that areas where pMDA was conducted saw a 46% greater decrease in incidence at the time of intervention than comparison areas.

Intense insecticide resistance is compromising malaria vector control in Côte d’Ivoire, driven principally by metabolic resistance mechanisms. Study findings support the urgent deployment of interventions incorporating newly approved insecticides and synergists to interrupt malaria transmission by insecticide-resistant vector populations.

A library of recombinant S mansoni cell-surface and secreted proteins was produced in mammalian cells for functional and epidemiological studies. Using human and mouse sera from experimentally controlled infections, we identified molecular markers of infection as early as 5 weeks.

We investigated the pathogenesis of pneumococcal pneumonia using clinical samples. Results demonstrated that pneumococci in the lung originated from the nasopharynx and suggested that changes in pneumococcal gene expression in the lung are a feature of pneumococcal pneumonia.

Nebulized bacteriophages (aerophages) showed promise for the treatment of pneumonia due to MRSA; aerophages reduced bacterial loads and lung damage, and when combined with systemically applied phages, they rescued >90% of animals from lethal infection.

We developed a robust and translational minipig deep surgical wound infection model to better predict the efficacy of Staphylococcus aureus vaccines in human clinical trials. Leucocidin AB was shown to have potential as a vaccine antigen against S. aureus.

Patients after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation show a highly heterogeneous antibody response to seasonal influenza vaccination that can be partially explained by easily accessible clinical data such as the type of immunosuppressive treatment, absolute lymphocyte count, and donor relationship.