John Parkinson

NFID recently held its respiratory season kick-off, which included the release of its annual respiratory disease survey. This year, the survey revealed the gap between vaccine support and uptake. Robert Hopkins Jr, MD, medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases delves deeper into the findings of the survey and the vaccine uptake challenges associated with certain immunizations.

Projected disease burden from declining childhood vaccine coverage shows increases in vaccine-preventable diseases. Benjamin Lopman, PhD, provides insights on how VaxImpactMap works and the potential long-term disease consequences of decreased immunization rates.

Chair of the Freedom Caucus U.S. Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) speaks to reporters in the U.S. Capitol building on March 27, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

In the phase 3b ENCORE trial, adding amikacin liposome inhalation suspension (ALIS) to azithromycin and ethambutol significantly improved culture conversion in newly diagnosed MAC lung disease, while treatment-emergent amikacin (2.2%) and macrolide (1.1%) resistance stayed rare.

Karen B. Jacobson, MD, MPH, of Kaiser Permanente Northern California, presented data at IDWeek 2026 showing 58.2% of children younger than five years exposed to active hepatitis B in the home were exposed by someone other than their birth mother, a risk maternal screening alone would miss under the CDC’s revised birth dose recommendation.

Exploratory SCORPIO-PEP data presented at IDWeek 2026 show household contacts with breakthrough COVID-19 on ensitrelvir had lower peak viral RNA and fewer severe symptoms than placebo recipients.

Alejandra Gurtman, MD, discussed the phase 2 data at IDWeek 2026 which showed the investigational 25-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine 25vPnC produced serotype 3 antibody levels about 15-fold higher than Prevnar 20 after the booster dose, targeting a serotype still behind 10.6% of invasive pneumococcal disease in US children younger than five years.

Preliminary SABEDTIO data from IDWeek 2026 show early dual IV therapy cut prolonged S aureus bacteremia to 6% from 16%, with safe oral transition at 72 hours.

Investigational agent Zelicapavir cut time to complete RSV symptom resolution by up to a week and lowered hospitalization in high-risk adults.

David Altarac, MD, discusses the 2026 IDSA guidance, which prioritizes sulbactam-durlobactam plus a carbapenem for invasive carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter infections.