Infectious Diseases

Why do psoriasis patients report better QoL amid COVID-19?

9 hours ago

Patients with psoriasis report improved quality of life under the COVID-19 pandemic despite harsh movement restrictions, a recent study has found. Such an effect, however, may suggest that current tools do not completely capture the negative impacts of harsh lockdowns on patients’ wellbeing.

Brensocatib has no impact on COVID-19 clinical outcomes

Roshini Claire Anthony, 2 days ago

Results of the STOP-COVID trial, presented at ERS 2022, showed no clinical outcome benefit with the dipeptidyl peptidase-1 (DPP-1) inhibitor brensocatib compared with placebo in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in the UK.

Restricting fluid therapy in septic shock: Yes or no?

Roshini Claire Anthony, 3 days ago

The administration of restrictive, compared with standard, intravenous (IV) fluid therapy to patients with septic shock in the intensive care unit (ICU) did not result in a reduction in mortality risk, according to results of the CLASSIC* trial.

Add-on, switch-to PEG-IFN therapy strategies improve serological response in CHB patients

4 days ago

Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients, who have virological response with long-term entecavir (ETV) treatment, appear to fare well with a strategy of adding or switching to peginterferon (PEG-IFN) therapy, as shown in a study.

Multiple-dose antibiotic not recommended for preventing infection after breast reconstruction

5 days ago

The use of multiple-dose antibiotic to prevent surgical site infection and implant removal following implant-based breast reconstruction does not appear to be more effective than a single-dose regimen, as shown in a study. In addition, the multi-dose regimen increases the risk of adverse events associated with antibiotic treatment.

FINLAY-FR-1A vaccine boosts natural immunity in COVID-19 convalescents

Audrey Abella, 6 days ago

A single dose of FINLAY-FR-1A, a recombinant d-RBD*-based COVID-19 vaccine, strengthens pre-existing natural immunity in patients who have recovered from asymptomatic, mild or moderate COVID-19, and has an excellent safety profile, a phase IIa/b study has shown.

Burden of Dengue amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

12 Jul 2022

Dengue fever (DF) is endemic in many tropical countries, including Singapore, and is spread by Aedes mosquitoes. All four serotypes of the dengue virus (DENV 1–4) are found in Singapore, with serotype distribution fluctuating from year to year. DENV-1 and DENV-2 were previously the dominant serotypes in outbreaks, but DENV-3 has now replaced DENV-2 as the most common serotype in 2022. Along with a larger proportion of people staying home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this has resulted in an increase in dengue incidence in Singapore. In the week of 12th to 18th June 2022, 1,258 new dengue cases were reported. According to the National Environment Agency (NEA), this number is expected to rise and exceed the highest weekly figure of 1,787 cases recorded in 2020.

Rapid antigen test: Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good

Pearl Toh, 23 Oct 2021

While rapid antigen test is less sensitive than conventional nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) such as RT-PCR* in detecting SARS-CoV-2 virus, “a test does not have to be perfect to be clinically useful,” said Professor Angela Caliendo during a session in IDWeek 2021 — echoing the maxim that perfect should not be the enemy of good in the pandemic era.

ID NOW rapid molecular assay an effective COVID-19 test for kids

Rapid COVID-19 testing: Is it as good in kids?

Roshini Claire Anthony, 20 Oct 2021

A large retrospective study from the US, presented at IDWeek 2021, has shown that the Abbott ID NOW rapid molecular COVID-19 assay is highly sensitive and specific at detecting SARS-CoV-2 infection in a paediatric population.

Dual therapy as good as triple therapy for treatment-naïve HIV

Elvira Manzano, 31 Aug 2022

Dual therapy with the fixed-dose combination of darunavir/ritonavir plus lamivudine effectively controlled HIV as the same combination with tenofovir in treatment-naïve patients with HIV, according to the phase IV ANDES trial presented at AIDS 2022.

B/F/TAF combo: A better choice than DTG+F/TDF in patients with HIV/HBV co-infection?

Trial of two tenofovir-containing regimens for HIV/HBV co-infection: Insights from ALLIANCE

Roshini Claire Anthony, 24 Aug 2022

The triplet combination of bictegravir/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide (B/F/TAF) is as good as dolutegravir + emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (DTG+F/TDF) in terms of efficacy for HIV control but results in better hepatitis B virus (HBV) outcomes in patients with HIV/HBV co-infection, according to results of the phase III ALLIANCE trial presented at IAS 2022.

Is bulevirtide a potential answer for chronic hep D?

Roshini Claire Anthony, 20 Aug 2022

Bulevirtide at a dose of 2 mg or 10 mg daily induces biochemical and virological response in patients with chronic hepatitis D virus (HDV) infection, according to results of Study MYR301.

Does TB influence viral suppression in HIV patients on DTG-based therapy?

Audrey Abella, 16 Aug 2022

Incident tuberculosis (TB) appears to be a risk factor for virologic non-suppression (ie, viral load of >1,000 copies/mL) in HIV patients who have transitioned to dolutegravir (DTG)-based therapy with recycled NRTIs*, according to a retrospective subanalysis of the VISEND study.

Another breakthrough for HIV: Fourth patient goes into long-term remission

Audrey Abella, 12 Aug 2022

Hope springs yet again in the field of HIV treatment, as another HIV patient (reportedly the fourth in the world) goes into remission 3 decades following diagnosis. The patient stopped antiretroviral therapy (ART) after receiving allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) of CCR5-Δ32/Δ32 donor cells for acute myelogenous leukaemia (AML).

Negative attitude towards MSM living with HIV tied to low knowledge, worry about HIV

Stephen Padilla, 08 Aug 2022

Ignorance and fear of HIV both contribute significantly to the negative attitudes towards men who have sex with men (MSM) living with the virus, suggests a study presented at the 24th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2022) in Montreal, Canada.

Long-acting injectable HIV drug works for all ages

Jairia Dela Cruz, 07 Aug 2022

The long-acting combination of cabotegravir plus rilpivirine, administered as monthly or once-every-2-months jabs, appears to be effective in both older and younger patients living with HIV, with most maintaining virologic suppression through week 96, according to pooled data from the phase III ATLAS, FLAIR, and ATLAS-2M studies.