Infectious Diseases Updates

This Medical News article is an editor’s choice roundup of the most impactful, newsworthy, and novel studies published in JAMA over the past year.

This Medical News article is an editor’s choice roundup of the most impactful, newsworthy, and novel studies published in JAMA over the past year.

This cohort study assesses the risk factors associated with West Nile neuroinvasive disease and mortality in the US between 2013 and 2024.

This randomized clinical trial examines the incidence of intubation and/or death and other outcomes among patients with COVID-19–related hypoxemic respiratory failure receiving daily awake prone positioning or standard care.

This randomized clinical trial examines the incidence of intubation and/or death and other outcomes among patients with COVID-19–related hypoxemic respiratory failure receiving daily awake prone positioning or standard care.

This study evaluated whether a personalized hemodynamic resuscitation protocol targeting capillary refill time normalization improves outcomes in adults with early septic shock compared with usual care.

This randomized clinical trial examines whether a personalized hemodynamic resuscitation protocol targeting capillary refill time was more effective than usual care in patients with early septic shock.

Almost 25 years ago, a landmark trial of early goal-directed therapy (EGDT) by Rivers and colleagues reshaped the care of septic shock by introducing the concept that “early” management was crucial. Although implementation has varied across high- and low-resource settings, the importance of early sepsis recognition and treatment is now nearly universally accepted. In contrast, the specific manner by which goal-directed therapy for septic shock should be provided remains highly controversial. Conceptually, goal-directed therapy is a resuscitation protocol involving a goal to be achieved, serial assessments of the patient’s physiologic status, and administration of therapies that the assessments indicate will help achieve the goal. But what are the right goals, assessments, and therapies to improve outcomes for patients with early sepsis?

This pooled analysis examines the diagnostic accuracy of the updated Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network prediction rule in identifying febrile infants 28 days or younger with bacteremia or bacterial meningitis.

This randomized trial assesses whether precision immunotherapy tailored to macrophage activation–like syndrome or sepsis-induced immunoparalysis improved organ dysfunction compared with placebo among patients with sepsis.

Sepsis is a macabre dance between host and pathogen. With development of germ theory by Lister, Semmelweis, Pasteur, and Koch, pathogen eradication was the focus. Only in recent decades, with observations by Roger Bone and others that patients succumbed to sepsis despite successful eradication of the pathogen, did attention swing to the host. It is now well accepted that a hallmark of sepsis is the systemic host immune response to infection that is directly injurious to vital organs. Unfortunately, the response is also extremely complex and highly variable in a way that is not easily appreciated from routine clinical examination or laboratory tests. This clinically elusive heterogeneity in the underlying pathogenesis of sepsis has bedeviled attempts to develop immune modulating therapies, with a litany of failed trials. The great hope is that success will lie in a strategy of precision therapy for sepsis, where a particular host response pattern can be identified swiftly and treated with more targeted interventions. Although ideas abound on how to measure and treat specific host-response patterns, the hope has remained largely theoretical, with little demonstration that it is practical and effective in clinical practice.

This trial assessed whether immunotherapy tailored to individual immune dysregulation—macrophage activation–like syndrome and sepsis-induced immunoparalysis—could improve organ function among patients with sepsis-3.

This cohort study examines changes in viral suppression among people living with HIV after release from prison in Zambia and estimates the association between postrelease alcohol use and viral suppression.

This cohort study examines the risk of Parkinson disease among individuals who received and did not receive influenza vaccination between the ages of 40 and 50 years.

This cross-sectional study assesses species identities and triazole susceptibility among clinical Aspergillus isolates in Southern California.

Infectious Diseases

This cross-sectional study assesses species identities and triazole susceptibility among clinical Aspergillus isolates in Southern California.

Infectious Diseases

About 1 in 6 laboratory-confirmed common bacterial infections were resistant to antibiotics in 2023, according to a new World Health Organization (WHO) report.

This review summarizes the epidemiology, clinical manifestations, staging, and diagnosis of syphilis.

This comparative effectiveness trial evaluates screening approaches for gonorrhea and chlamydia in US emergency departments.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report on influenza activity during the 2024 to 2025 season—the most severe since 2017 to 2018.

This Special Communication reviews emerging evidence on the public health implications of unregulated psilocybin mushroom use, including trends in use, product variability, co-use with other substances, and age-related differences in outcomes.

This randomized clinical trial investigates if the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine prevents heart attacks and strokes.

This comparative effectiveness study examines the association between the use of quaternary ammonia–based wipes with and without alcohol and protective clothing performance.

This cohort study examines whether nontuberculous mycobacterial disease is associated with increased mortality risk among solid-organ transplant recipients.

This case report describes a woman in her 60s who presented with progressive facial lesions over 10 years that initially appeared as swelling on her right cheek with erythematous, brown papules, gradually merging into asymptomatic plaques.

This decision analytical model evaluates strategies for managing household contacts of patients with tuberculosis (TB) who have abnormal chest radiograph findings but do not meet clinical criteria for TB disease.