Officials Call For More Syphilis Testing For Newborns Amid Skyrocketing Cases

AP: Syphilis Cases In US Newborns Skyrocketed In 2022. Health Officials Suggest More Testing
Alarmed by yet another jump in syphilis cases in newborns, U.S. health officials are calling for stepped-up prevention measures, including encouraging millions of women of childbearing age and their partners to get tested for the sexually transmitted disease. More than 3,700 babies were born with congenital syphilis in 2022 — 10 times more than a decade ago and a 32% increase from 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday. Syphilis caused 282 stillbirth and infant deaths, nearly 16 times more than the 2012 deaths. (Stobbe and Hunter, 11/7)

NPR: Congenital Syphilis Is Still Rising. Better Treatment In Pregnancy Urged
"The situation is very serious," says Dr. Laura Bachmann, chief medical officer for the CDC's Division of STD Prevention. "We need to do things differently." "We have a perfect storm in the United States of funding cutbacks, not enough testing and treatments and a lack of awareness of this out-of-control syphilis epidemic," he says, "And babies are paying the price." (Stone, 11/7)

On RSV, tuberculosis, smallpox, and antimicrobial-resistant infections —

CIDRAP: RSV-Preventing Injection In Shortage As Respiratory Virus Season Begins 
Respiratory virus season is only starting, and demand has already outstripped supply for the newly approved and potentially lifesaving monoclonal antibody injection for preventing respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in children. David Margraf, PharmD, PhD, pharmaceutical research scientist at the Resilient Drug Supply Project (RDSP), said the nirsevimab-alip (Beyfortus) shortage is reminiscent of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. RDSP is part of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), publisher of CIDRAP News. (Van Beusekom, 11/7)

NPR: Antibiotics For Babies Are Stymied By Antimicrobial Resistant Infections
The drugs aren't working as well as they used to. That's the sobering takeaway from new research published in The Lancet Regional Health – Southeast Asia last week: The most commonly prescribed antibiotics in Southeast Asia are now only 50% effective at treating sepsis and meningitis in newborns. And that's a serious setback. Sepsis kills 1 in 5 patients. Meningitis is responsible for a quarter of million deaths a year – half among children under the age of 5. (Barnhart and Barber, 11/7)

CIDRAP: WHO Sees Some Signs Of Progress In Fight Against Tuberculosis 
In its latest Global Tuberculosis Report, released today, the WHO reported that 7.5 million people were newly diagnosed with TB in 2022, the highest number since the WHO began recording TB statistics in 1995. That number is significant because it means more people with TB are being officially diagnosed and getting the treatment and services they need. (Dall, 11/7)

KFF Health News: What I Learned From The World’s Last Smallpox Patient 
Rahima Banu, a toddler in rural Bangladesh, was the last person in the world known to contract variola major, the deadly form of smallpox, through natural infection. In October 1975, after World Health Organization epidemiologists learned of her infection, health workers vaccinated those around her, putting an end to variola major transmission around the world. The WHO officially declared smallpox eradicated in 1980, and it remains the only human infectious disease ever to have been eradicated. Among infectious-disease doctors like me, Banu is famous as a symbol of the power of science and modern medicine. (Gounder, 11/8)

On the covid-19 pandemic —

The Washington Post: D.C. Students Will No Longer Be Required To Vaccinate Against Covid 
The D.C. Council voted Tuesday to repeal its coronavirus vaccine mandate for the city’s schoolchildren, a measure that was controversial when it passed in 2021 and was never enforced. The vote ends a long-running debate over whether D.C. should require students over the age of 12 to get vaccinated against the coronavirus as a condition for attendance. Lawmakers added a coronavirus vaccination to the city’s list of required immunizations in hopes of curbing the virus in schools, but thousands of families failed to meet deadlines. (Lumpkin, 11/7)

CIDRAP: New Pandemic-Era Stress Scale Aims To Help Identify At-Risk Adults, Kids
A new study from researchers at Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes Program (ECHO) at the National Institutes of Health shows how a stress scale developed to identify who was most at-risk of needing mental health support during the pandemic has the potential to evaluate traumatic stress reactions to ongoing large-scale threats. The study, which describes the Pandemic-Related Traumatic Stress Scale (PTSS), is published in the journal Psychological Assessment. Researchers conducted the study at 47 ECHO cohort study cites across the United States, Puerto Rico, and Washington D.C. The study included 17,839 adults and children. (Soucheray, 11/7)

Stat: Remote Patient Monitoring Helped Manage Hypertension Better, But At A Higher Cost 
During the pandemic, in search of tools to keep patients healthy and virus-free, doctors turned to a new technology for help: remote patient monitoring. In 2020, home use of tools like connected blood pressure cuffs, continuous glucose monitors, and weight scales shot up, with billing for the devices and their associated care more than quadrupling. (Palmer, 11/7)

Stat: Experts Highlight Biotech, Pharma Issues In Wake Of Covid-19
Current and former government officials proffered a clear-eyed, and often depressing, take Tuesday on the state of clinical trials, the pharmaceutical industry, and biotech investors coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic. The officials, including the Food and Drug Administration’s second-in-command Janet Woodcock, acknowledged the drug industry’s persistent lack of interest in collaborating on clinical trials, the ways hypercompetition pervades academic research and slows progress, and biotech investors taking the wrong lessons from pandemic. (Florko, 11/7)