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Issue: Newsletter 21 | June 1, 2026

Randomised Controlled Trials

Citation of Articles PICO Main Results Risk of Bias
De Cock PA, Colman R, Smits A, Piersigilli F, Renard M, Van Damme A, et al. Bedside model-informed precision dosing of vancomycin in severely ill neonates and children in Belgium (the BENEFICIAL trial): a multicentre, randomised controlled trial. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2026 Jun;10(6):406-17. doi:10.1016/S2352-4642(25)00385-2 P: 314 critically ill paediatric patients (<18 years) in intensive care or haemato-oncology units receiving intravenous vancomycin for suspected or confirmed Gram-positive infection
I: Model-informed precision dosing (MIPD) of vancomycin using Bayesian software with early therapeutic drug monitoring and AUC-guided dosing adjustments
C: Standard-of-care therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of vancomycin
O: Achievement of 24-h AUC-to-MIC ratio target of 400–600 mg·h/L at 24–48 h; acute kidney injury or all-cause mortality; serious adverse events
MIPD significantly improved target AUC-to-MIC attainment at 24–48 h compared with standard TDM (71.8% vs 53.9%; absolute difference 18.9%, 95% CI 1.7–34.7). Acute kidney injury or all-cause mortality was numerically lower in the MIPD group but not statistically significant (12.4% vs 16.9%; absolute difference –4.5%, 95% CI –11.6 to 3.5). Serious adverse events occurred at similar rates in both groups (5% each). Overall, AUC-guided MIPD improved pharmacokinetic target attainment with low risk of harm. Moderate risk: The open-label design for treating clinicians and pharmacists could introduce performance bias, although randomisation, allocation concealment, and masking of patients, families, and biostatisticians reduce selection and detection bias. Objective pharmacokinetic outcomes strengthen internal validity. Exclusion of patients without deferred consent completion and incomplete availability of AUC data may introduce some attrition bias, though overall follow-up and safety reporting were robust.
Vissing NH, Skajaa T, Grosen D, Albertsen BK, Als-Nielsen B, Hasle H, et al. Early discontinuation of empirical antibiotics versus extended treatment in children with cancer and high-risk febrile neutropenia in Denmark: an open-label, randomised controlled trial. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2026 Jun;10(6):418-28. doi:10.1016/S2352-4642(26)00039-8 P: 88 febrile neutropenia episodes in 70 children with cancer aged 0–17 years receiving intensive chemotherapy and experiencing high-risk febrile neutropenia without microbiologically documented infection
I: Early discontinuation of intravenous antibiotics after 48 h of defervescence and clinical stability regardless of neutrophil recovery
C: Continuation of intravenous antibiotics until neutrophil recovery or a maximum of 10 days
O: Duration of antibiotic exposure within 28 days; infection-related serious adverse events including bacteraemia, focal infection, sepsis, and death
Early discontinuation of antibiotics significantly reduced antibiotic exposure compared with standard continuation therapy, with a mean antibiotic duration of 8.1 days versus 13.5 days, respectively (estimated difference –4.0 days, 95% CI –6.0 to –1.9; p=0.0002). Serious adverse events occurred at similar rates between groups (22% vs 21%; risk ratio 1.06, 95% CI 0.46–2.47), and no deaths occurred. Overall, early discontinuation reduced unnecessary antibiotic use without evidence of compromised short-term safety. Moderate risk: The open-label design could introduce performance bias, although allocation concealment and computer-generated randomisation strengthen internal validity. The small sample size and low event rates limit statistical power to detect rare safety outcomes. Use of febrile episodes rather than unique patients may introduce clustering effects, potentially affecting independence of observations and generalisability.
Hay AD, Abbs S, Ridd M, Granier S, Lane JA, Muir P, et al. Rapid respiratory microbiological point-of-care testing and antibiotic use in primary care: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2026 May 18; doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2026.1426

• Editorial Commentary:
Linder JA, Szymczak JE. Acute respiratory infections in primary care—precision microbiology fails to bring order to diagnostic disarray. JAMA Intern Med. 2026 May 18; doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2026.1440
P: 552 children and adults aged ≥12 months presenting to primary care with acute respiratory tract infection (≤21 days) where antibiotics were considered potentially necessary
I: Rapid multiplex microbiological point-of-care testing (RM-POCT) detecting 19 respiratory viruses and 4 atypical bacteria with results available in approximately 45 minutes
C: Usual care without RM-POCT
O: Same-day antibiotic prescribing; patient-reported symptom severity on days 2–4
RM-POCT did not reduce same-day antibiotic prescribing compared with usual care, with antibiotics prescribed to 45% of participants in both groups (OR 1.00, 95% CI 0.71–1.41; p>0.99). There was no significant difference in symptom severity on days 2–4 between groups (difference in means 0.09, 95% CI –0.10 to 0.27; p=0.36). Prespecified subgroup analyses showed reduced antibiotic prescribing among patients with a detected viral pathogen (OR 0.35, 95% CI 0.20–0.63; interaction p<0.001) and those with chronic lung disease (OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.28–1.09; interaction p=0.046). Overall, RM-POCT did not improve overall antibiotic prescribing but appeared beneficial in selected subgroups without worsening clinical outcomes. Moderate risk: The open-label nature for clinicians and patients could introduce performance bias, although outcome assessors and statisticians were masked to allocation. The primary outcome was objective and available for all participants, minimizing attrition bias. Safety outcome completion rates were moderate (74–78%), which may introduce some response bias. Subgroup findings should be interpreted cautiously as the study was not primarily powered for these analyses.
Denninghoff KR, Casper TC, Zorc JJ, Ruddy RM, Satola S, Wendt WJ, et al. Azithromycin for preschoolers with wheezing in the emergency department. N Engl J Med. 2026 May 18; doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2516505 P: 840 preschool children aged 18–59 months presenting to emergency departments with moderate-to-severe wheezing episodes; 521 were nasopharyngeal pathogen-positive for Streptococcus pneumoniae, Moraxella catarrhalis, or Haemophilus influenzae
I: Azithromycin 12 mg/kg once daily for 5 days
C: Matching placebo for 5 days
O: Severity of wheezing symptoms measured by Asthma Flare-up Diary for Young Children (ADYC) over 5 days; secondary outcomes included ED/hospital length of stay, return visits, bacterial clearance, and antimicrobial resistance
Azithromycin did not reduce wheezing severity compared with placebo in either pathogen-positive or -negative cohorts. ADYC scores were similar between azithromycin and placebo groups in the positive cohort (median 9.59 vs 9.72; P=0.70) and negative cohort (9.30 vs 9.10; P=0.69). Despite significantly higher bacterial clearance in the azithromycin group (58.7% vs 11.4% in placebo among positives), this did not translate into improved clinical outcomes. Secondary outcomes, including healthcare utilization, resistance development, and adverse events, were also similar. Low–moderate risk: Randomised, placebo-controlled, multicentre design with clear allocation to azithromycin vs placebo reduces selection and performance bias. Outcome assessment used standardized diary scoring, limiting detection bias. Early stopping for futility may reduce power for detecting smaller effects. Stratified analysis by bacterial status strengthens internal validity but increases risk of multiple subgroup comparisons. Overall attrition and safety reporting appear adequate.
Portero-Prados FJ, Pabón-Carrasco M, Ponce-Blandón JA. Effectiveness of chlorhexidine gluconate–impregnated dressings in preventing central line–associated bloodstream infection in a paediatric intensive care unit: a randomised controlled trial. Intensive Crit Care Nurs. 2026 May 7; doi:10.1016/j.iccn.2026.104441 P: 250 paediatric patients admitted to a tertiary paediatric intensive care unit with central venous catheters (125 per group)
I: Chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG)-impregnated central line dressings
C: Conventional transparent dressings
O: Central line–associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) incidence; skin reactions; catheter-related risk factors including dwell time and vaccination status
CHG-impregnated dressings significantly reduced CLABSI incidence compared with conventional dressings (2.4% vs 18.4%; p<0.001). In multivariable analysis, CHG dressings remained independently protective against CLABSI (OR 0.15, 95% CI 0.04–0.58). Longer catheter dwell time increased infection risk (OR 1.13 per day, 95% CI 1.04–1.22), and incomplete vaccination status was associated with higher CLABSI risk (OR 8.68, 95% CI 2.48–30.47). Mild skin reactions were more frequent in the CHG group (16.8% vs 11.2%), particularly in younger infants, but did not require catheter removal. Overall, CHG dressings reduced infection risk with acceptable safety. Moderate risk: Single-blind design may introduce performance bias, as clinicians were likely aware of dressing type. Randomisation and multivariable adjustment strengthen internal validity, but residual confounding cannot be excluded. Single-centre PICU setting limits generalisability. Outcome definition (CDC/NHSN CLABSI criteria) is standardized, reducing detection bias. Slight imbalance in skin reaction reporting may reflect partial unblinding.
Faust K, Strecker F, Haug C, Felderhoff-Müser U, Stein A, Jensen R, et al. Extended barrier precautions vs hand hygiene alone and neonatal sepsis in intensive care patients: the BALTIC cluster-randomized clinical trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2026 May;9(5):e2612759. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.12759 P: 9731 neonates requiring intensive care across 12 tertiary neonatal intensive care units in Germany (cluster-randomized crossover design across 24 clusters)
I: Standard hand hygiene disinfection alone for infants colonized with third-generation cephalosporin–resistant gram-negative bacteria (3GCR-GNB)
C: Standard hand hygiene plus extended barrier precautions (gloves and gowns) for routine care
O: Health care–associated gram-negative bloodstream infections (primary outcome); transmission of 3GCR-GNB; overall infection rates
Standard hand hygiene was noninferior to extended barrier precautions for prevention of gram-negative bloodstream infections. Infection rates were identical between groups (0.5% vs 0.5%; risk difference −0.03%, 95% CI −0.43 to 0.38; noninferiority P<0.001). Transmission events were also similar between strategies (2.5% vs 3.0%; risk difference −0.44%, 95% CI −2.47 to 1.58). Overall infection rates did not differ meaningfully between groups (2.1% vs 2.0%). These findings indicate no added benefit of routine gown-and-glove precautions over standard hand hygiene in this setting. Low–moderate risk: Strong cluster-randomized crossover design across multiple NICUs with large sample size enhances external validity. Prespecified noninferiority margin and CONSORT-adherent reporting strengthen methodological rigour. Lack of individual-level randomisation may introduce cluster-level confounding, though crossover design mitigates this. Open-label nature is unavoidable but outcome (bloodstream infection) is objective and registry-defined, reducing detection bias. Some potential for implementation variability across sites.
Chang VWL, Li Q, Barnes D, Byrne AL, Cho JG, Foo SW, et al. Three months of weekly rifapentine and isoniazid versus four months of daily rifampicin for tuberculosis infection: a randomized controlled trial. Clin Infect Dis. 2026 May 15; doi:10.1093/cid/ciag306 P: 210 participants with tuberculosis infection (TBI) recruited from 7 tuberculosis clinics in Sydney, Australia (all ages)
I: 3 months of weekly isoniazid plus rifapentine (3HP) with SMS adherence reminders
C: 4 months of daily rifampicin (4RIF) with standard clinic follow-up
O: Treatment completion defined as ≥90% of prescribed doses ingested; adverse events; safety outcomes
Treatment completion was significantly higher with 3HP compared with 4RIF (84.9% vs 65.4%; RR 1.30, 95% CI 1.22–1.38; P<0.001). Adverse event rates were similar between groups (24.5% vs 20.2%), and no treatment-related deaths occurred. Overall, the weekly 3HP regimen with SMS support improved adherence without increasing safety concerns compared with daily rifampicin. Moderate risk: Open-label design may introduce performance bias, particularly given differing dosing schedules and SMS adherence support in the intervention arm. Randomisation with site stratification and intention-to-treat analysis strengthen internal validity. Objective primary outcome (dose ingestion ≥90%) reduces detection bias, though self-administered dosing and self-reporting may introduce adherence misclassification. Sample size is relatively small, limiting precision for safety outcomes.
Cicuttini FM, Wluka AE, Pan F, O’Sullivan R, Leder K, Cheng AC, et al. Efficacy of antibiotics for chronic low back pain with disc herniation: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2026 May;9(5):e2612848. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.12848 P: 170 community-based adults aged 18–60 years with chronic low back pain and MRI-confirmed disc herniation (with subgroup analysis including Modic changes)
I: Amoxicillin–clavulanate 500 mg/125 mg twice daily for 90 days
C: Identical placebo for 90 days
O: Pain intensity on Low Back Pain Rating Scale (0–10) at 12 months (primary); pain at 3 months; adverse events
Amoxicillin–clavulanate did not reduce pain compared with placebo at 12 months (adjusted difference 0.06; 95% CI −0.58 to 0.70) or at 3 months (adjusted difference 0.34; 95% CI −0.18 to 0.86). No benefit was observed in prespecified subgroup analyses including patients with Modic changes. Adverse events were more frequent in the antibiotic group (40.0% vs 23.5%), with one serious adverse event in each group possibly related to treatment. Overall, antibiotics provided no clinical benefit for chronic disc-related low back pain and were associated with higher adverse event rates. Low risk: Double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized design with allocation concealment and intention-to-treat analysis reduces performance, detection, and selection bias. Adequate follow-up (89.4% at 12 months) limits attrition bias. Telemedicine adaptations due to COVID-19 may introduce minor variability in outcome assessment but primary outcome is patient-reported and standardized. Subgroup analyses increase risk of spurious findings but do not affect primary conclusion.
Ornowska M, Wittmann J, Blitz S, Wong H, Vazquez-Grande G, Mitra AR, et al. 4% tetrasodium EDTA to prevent central venous access device–associated complications: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2026 May 18; doi:10.1001/jama.2026.6025 P: 1468 adult intensive care unit patients (>18 years) with central venous access devices (CVADs) across 6 Canadian hospitals in a cluster-randomized crossover trial
I: 4% tetrasodium EDTA (t-EDTA) locking fluid instilled into unused CVAD lumens
C: Saline or 4% citrate locking fluid (standard care, depending on line type)
O: Composite CVAD complications including catheter-associated bloodstream infection, catheter occlusion requiring alteplase, and catheter removal due to occlusion
t-EDTA locking fluid significantly reduced the composite rate of CVAD complications compared with control (13.1 vs 19.9 per 1000 catheter-days; adjusted rate ratio 0.68, 95% CI 0.47–0.96; p=0.03). The reduction was primarily driven by fewer catheter occlusions requiring alteplase (11.67 vs 17.73 per 1000 catheter-days; rate ratio 0.66, 95% CI 0.46–0.96), while bloodstream infection rates did not significantly differ between groups. Overall, t-EDTA improved catheter patency and reduced composite CVAD-related complications. Low–moderate risk: Strong multicentre cluster-randomized crossover design with triple blinding (patients, clinicians, and outcome assessors) reduces selection and performance bias. Objective outcomes (infection, occlusion, catheter removal) strengthen reliability. However, cluster design may introduce residual confounding and period effects despite crossover. Composite endpoint driven mainly by occlusion rather than infection may overestimate clinical impact on infectious outcomes. Minor risk of implementation variability across ICUs.
Rossotti R, Baiguera C, Bernasconi DP, Bana NB, Nava A, Cavazza G, et al. A randomized clinical trial to compare moxifloxacin versus azithromycin for the treatment of Mycoplasma genitalium: the FARTHEST study. Clin Infect Dis. 2026 May 17; doi:10.1093/cid/ciag317 P: 358 adults with Mycoplasma genitalium infection detected by multiplex PCR in a monocentric setting
I: Moxifloxacin 400 mg once daily for 10 days
C: Azithromycin 500 mg once daily for 6 days
O: Microbiological cure at ≥28 days after treatment completion (test of cure) in ITT and per-protocol populations
Moxifloxacin achieved significantly higher microbiological cure rates than azithromycin in the ITT analysis (87.0% vs 61.2%; absolute risk difference 25.8%, 95% CI 16.5–35.2), with superiority confirmed in per-protocol analysis. Moxifloxacin was consistently more effective across most subgroups, while azithromycin showed comparable efficacy only in heterosexual participants. Both regimens were well tolerated with minimal discontinuation. Overall, moxifloxacin demonstrated clear superiority for eradication of M. genitalium infection in the absence of resistance testing. Moderate risk: Open-label design may introduce performance and adherence bias, although microbiological cure (objective PCR-based outcome) reduces detection bias. Randomization supports internal validity, but monocentric setting limits generalisability. Lack of resistance testing may introduce unmeasured confounding related to baseline resistance patterns. Subgroup analyses increase risk of spurious findings.
Mitanchez D, Lacoste-Badie R, Flamant C, Beuchée A, Tourneux P, Mokhtari M, et al. Procalcitonin-guided decision and antibiotic treatment duration in late onset sepsis of newborns: multicentre, randomised controlled trial (ProABIS). BMJ Med. 2026;5(1):e002602. doi:10.1136/bmjmed-2026-002602 P: 504 neonates (>24 weeks gestation, >700 g, postnatal age >4 days) with suspected or proven late-onset sepsis requiring antibiotics >48 hours across 33 neonatal units in France
I: Procalcitonin-guided antibiotic decision-making with serial PCT monitoring and recommendation to discontinue antibiotics when PCT ≤0.5 µg/L
C: Usual care based on local protocols without procalcitonin guidance
O: Duration of antibiotic therapy (primary); mortality at day 28; infection recurrence
Procalcitonin-guided therapy significantly reduced antibiotic duration compared with usual care (median 8 vs 10 days; absolute difference −2.0 days, P<0.001). There was no evidence of harm, with similar 28-day mortality (2.4% vs 3.9%; absolute difference −1.5%, 95% CI −5.0 to 1.8) and similar recurrence rates (2.8% vs 3.9%; absolute difference −1.1%, 95% CI −4.6 to 2.3). Overall, PCT-guided management safely reduced antibiotic exposure in neonatal late-onset sepsis. Moderate risk: Open-label design may introduce performance bias, particularly in decisions regarding antibiotic discontinuation, although objective mortality and recurrence outcomes reduce detection bias. Multicentre randomised design strengthens external validity. Lack of blinding and reliance on a non-binding recommendation could influence clinician behaviour and adherence to protocol. However, low event rates and consistent safety outcomes support robustness of findings.
Quilty BJ, Toizumi M, Nguyen HAT, Le LT, Le HH, Iwasaki C, et al. Sustained and indirect effects of PCV10 reduced-dose schedules on pneumococcal carriage in Viet Nam: a long-term follow-up of a cluster-randomised controlled trial. Lancet Infect Dis. 2026 May 27; doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(26)00172-6 P: 49,644 participants from 24 communes in Nha Trang, Viet Nam, including 10,423 infants (4–11 months), 10,988 toddlers (14–24 months), 9,580 preschool children (3–4 years), and 18,653 adult caregivers in a cluster-randomised controlled trial
I: Reduced-dose pneumococcal conjugate vaccine schedule 1p+1 (doses at 2 and 12 months)
C: Standard-dose PCV10 schedules (2p+1 and 3p+0); additional comparisons with 0p+1 and unvaccinated communes
O: Vaccine-type pneumococcal nasopharyngeal carriage prevalence at 5.5 years; indirect effects in unvaccinated age groups; safety outcomes
The 1p+1 schedule remained non-inferior to standard 2p+1 and 3p+0 schedules for vaccine-type carriage in both infants and toddlers at 5.5 years, with all confidence intervals within the prespecified 5% non-inferiority margin. Vaccine-type carriage declined substantially over time across all groups, including unvaccinated adult caregivers and preschool children, suggesting strong indirect effects regardless of dosing schedule. The lowest carriage proportions were consistently observed across vaccinated groups with minimal between-group differences. No vaccine-related serious adverse events were reported. Overall, reduced-dose schedules maintained long-term effectiveness and population-level protection comparable to standard regimens. Low–moderate risk: Strong cluster-randomised design with long-term follow-up and large population base enhances external validity. Prespecified non-inferiority framework and clear microbiological outcomes reduce analytic bias. However, cluster-level allocation may introduce residual confounding and ecological effects, and unvaccinated comparison communes may differ systematically. Open-label vaccination status is unavoidable but outcome measurement (nasopharyngeal carriage) is objective. Loss to follow-up and sampling variability across years may introduce some uncertainty in long-term estimates.
Wiesenfeld HC, Hong J, Xu T, Cuffe KM, Bernstein KT, Gift TL, et al. A staff-directed electronic medical record alert to increase chlamydia screening: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2026 May 29;9(5):e2615360. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.15360 P: 18,028 office encounters among women aged 18–24 years (7,356 primary care encounters and 10,672 obstetrics-gynecology encounters) in a cluster-randomized trial across outpatient practices in western Pennsylvania
I: Real-time electronic medical record alert directed to medical assistants for women without documented chlamydia screening within the previous year
C: Usual care without electronic alert
O: Chlamydia screening test orders during office visits
In primary care practices, chlamydia testing was ordered more frequently in the alert group than in the control group (13.2% [497/3770] vs 3.8% [135/3586]). After adjustment for baseline screening differences, the alert significantly increased the odds of test ordering (AOR 2.74, 95% CI 1.94–3.88). The intervention was effective for both reproductive health–related visits (AOR 2.80, 95% CI 1.70–4.62) and visits for other medical reasons (AOR 2.94, 95% CI 1.78–4.85). No significant effect was observed in obstetrics-gynecology practices. Moderate risk: The cluster-randomized design strengthens internal validity and reduces contamination between intervention and control practices. However, the intervention was not blinded, creating potential performance bias. The primary outcome (test ordering) was objectively captured through electronic medical records, minimizing detection bias. Baseline differences in screening rates required statistical adjustment, and the pragmatic single-region setting may limit generalizability to other healthcare systems. Attrition bias is likely low because outcomes were obtained from routine electronic records.
Dawson R, Diacon AH, Variava E, Moloanto T, Brumskine W, Ngwanto T, et al. Efficacy and safety of a 4-month quabodepistat, delamanid, and bedaquiline regimen for drug-susceptible pulmonary tuberculosis: a multicentre, open-label, randomised, proof-of-concept, non-inferiority, phase 2b/c trial. Lancet Infect Dis. 2026 May 29; doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(26)00143-X P: 122 adults aged 18–65 years with newly diagnosed drug-susceptible pulmonary tuberculosis recruited from six sites in South Africa; 121 participants received at least one dose and were included in the modified intention-to-treat analysis
I: Four months of delamanid plus bedaquiline plus quabodepistat (DBQ) at one of three dose levels: quabodepistat 10 mg, 30 mg, or 90 mg once daily
C: Six months of standard therapy (RHEZ: rifampicin, isoniazid, ethambutol, and pyrazinamide for 8 weeks followed by rifampicin and isoniazid for 18 weeks)
O: Primary efficacy outcome: sputum culture conversion by end of treatment; safety and tolerability
End-of-treatment sputum culture conversion was achieved in 100.0% (20/20) of participants in the DBQ10 group, 92.9% (39/42) in the DBQ30 group, 97.4% (37/38) in the DBQ90 group, 96.0% (96/100) in the pooled DBQ group, and 100.0% (21/21) in the RHEZ group. The pooled DBQ regimen met the prespecified non-inferiority criterion versus standard therapy (difference −4.0%, 80% CI −7.4 to 3.4; non-inferiority margin 12%). Adverse events were predominantly mild to moderate, with no treatment-related serious adverse events or discontinuations. Grade ≥3 adverse events occurred in 20% of DBQ10, 14% of DBQ30, 11% of DBQ90, and 5% of RHEZ participants. One death in the DBQ90 group due to worsening tuberculosis with pneumonia was considered unrelated to treatment. Overall, the 4-month DBQ regimen demonstrated promising efficacy and acceptable tolerability compared with the standard 6-month regimen. Moderate risk: The randomized design supports internal validity, and microbiology laboratory staff were blinded to treatment allocation, reducing outcome assessment bias. However, the open-label design introduces potential performance and detection bias. The proof-of-concept nature, small sample size (particularly the control arm with only 21 participants), and use of an 80% confidence interval for the non-inferiority analysis limit precision and robustness of conclusions. The primary endpoint was a surrogate microbiological outcome measured at end of treatment rather than long-term relapse-free cure, limiting assessment of durable efficacy.

Target Trial Emulation

Wong K, et al. Concordance between target trial emulation and randomised controlled trials: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ. 2026;393:e086810. doi:10.1136/bmj-2025-086810

  • Summary: This systematic review and meta-analysis of 107 target trial emulation–randomised controlled trial pairs found moderate overall concordance between emulated and trial results (Pearson correlation 0.59, 79% agreement, ratio of ratios 0.96), with substantially higher agreement when emulation closely replicated trial design (correlation 0.83, 87% agreement), while also showing systematic outcome-dependent bias (underestimation for venous thromboembolism and major adverse cardiovascular events, overestimation for respiratory outcomes) and lower concordance in claims-based emulations, with poorer agreement linked to imbalanced baseline characteristics, hospital-initiated treatment, and lower outcome emulation quality, suggesting that improving baseline alignment, outcome definition, and use of linked multi-source data could enhance emulation validity. There has been online criticism about the methods used in this systematic review and meta-analysis (eg, on “X” by “NonsparseOncologist”)

Trial Protocols / Trial Ideas

Papp M, Turan C, Kiss N, Zubek L, Karim DM, Hegyi P, et al. Kinetics of procalcitonin to reduce unnecessary antibiotic use (KIPRUN): protocol for a multicentre, randomised superiority trial to compare the efficacy and safety of procalcitonin kinetics-guided and absolute procalcitonin value-guided antibiotic initiation in critically ill patients. BMJ Open. 2025; doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2025-115344

  • Summary: This multicentre randomised controlled trial will compare a procalcitonin (PCT)-guided “kinetics” strategy (initiating antibiotics when PCT ≥0.5 ng/mL and increases >100% from the previous day) versus a standard “absolute” threshold strategy (PCT ≥0.5 ng/mL) in hemodynamically stable critically ill adults with suspected infection, with 250 participants planned, to determine whether incorporating PCT kinetics reduces unnecessary antibiotic therapy assessed at 72 hours by an independent adjudication panel, addressing a gap in evidence despite current guideline uncertainty on PCT-guided antibiotic initiation in ICUs.

Gallichan S, Lewis JM, Forrest S, Moore M, Picton-Barlow E, McKeown C, et al. A protocol for the TRACS-Liverpool study, tracking transmission of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase producing Enterobacterales across health and social care settings in the United Kingdom. 2026; doi:10.64898/2026.05.13.26352872

  • Summary: This protocol paper describes the TRACS Liverpool genomic surveillance programme designed to map transmission of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacterales (ESBL-E) across hospitals, intermediate care, and long-term care facilities in Liverpool, UK by integrating patient and healthcare facility data with standardised stool, rectal, environmental, and staff sampling, whole-genome sequencing, and statistical modelling to identify key transmission points and acquisition events, addressing current gaps in understanding of antimicrobial-resistant bacterial spread across the healthcare continuum and providing a reproducible framework to inform interventions targeting both resistant and broader enteric pathogen transmission.

Antibiotic Therapy Reviews

Frimodt-Møller N, Hertz FB. Pivmecillinam: past, present, and future. Expert Opin Drug Metab Toxicol. 2026 May 18; doi:10.1080/14656566.2026.2672731

  • Summary: This literature review of pivmecillinam, an oral prodrug of mecillinam widely used in Nordic countries for uncomplicated urinary tract infections, outlines its mechanism of action as a narrow-spectrum amidinopenicillin active against common uropathogens such as Escherichia coli with low resistance rates (~5%), describes its pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, resistance stability against many broad-spectrum beta-lactamases, and safety profile, and highlights its clinical role as empiric and targeted therapy for uncomplicated UTI and occasionally pyelonephritis and bacterial diarrhoea, while noting ongoing uncertainty regarding optimal dosing and treatment duration despite its favourable microbiome-sparing properties.

PK/PD and Drug Dosing

Coyne AJK, Gray R, Gonnabathula P, May ES, Puccio P, Wu C. Durability and mechanistic performance of aztreonam/avibactam versus aztreonam plus ceftazidime/avibactam against Stenotrophomonas maltophilia complex. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2026 Jun;81(6):dkag177. doi:10.1093/jac/dkag177

  • Summary: This hollow fibre infection model study compared aztreonam/avibactam with aztreonam plus ceftazidime/avibactam against Stenotrophomonas maltophilia complex under human-simulated prolonged dosing regimens and found that at lower dosing (6 g/day) neither regimen achieved sustained bactericidal activity, while at higher exposure (8 g/day) only continuous-infusion aztreonam/avibactam produced rapid and durable bactericidal effects with stable MICs and reduced blaL1/blaL2 induction, whereas the combination with ceftazidime led to early killing followed by regrowth and greater β-lactamase upregulation, suggesting that optimized aztreonam/avibactam exposure alone may be superior for achieving sustained antimicrobial activity against this intrinsically resistant pathogen.

Nothofer S, Dumps C, Dorn C, Lier C, Weiss M, Zeitlinger M, et al. Impact of cardiopulmonary bypass on cefuroxime plasma and interstitial tissue concentrations in patients undergoing cardiac bypass surgery—a prospective controlled clinical trial. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2026 Jun;81(6):dkag171. doi:10.1093/jac/dkag171

  • Summary: This pharmacokinetic study in patients undergoing on- versus off-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery assessed plasma and interstitial fluid cefuroxime concentrations after standard surgical prophylaxis dosing (3 g pre-incision plus 1.5 g repeat dose at CPB weaning or sternal closure) and found no significant differences between groups despite cardiopulmonary bypass-related physiological changes, with adequate exposure maintained above an 8 mg/L MIC for approximately 4.5–4.8 hours, suggesting that current cefuroxime prophylaxis regimens provide sufficient tissue and plasma coverage in cardiac surgery irrespective of CPB use.

Joffe AR, Humber A, Bates A, Lipman J, Wallis S, Roberts J, et al. Achieving therapeutic antibiotic levels during intermittent dosing of meropenem and piperacillin-tazobactam in critically ill children: the ATACC study. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2026 May 28; doi:10.1128/aac.01968-25

  • Summary: This prospective observational study in two pediatric intensive care units evaluated pharmacodynamic target attainment (fCmin>MIC and fCmin>4×MIC) during the first 48 hours of high-dose 6-hour infusions of meropenem or piperacillin–tazobactam in 49 critically ill children and found that target attainment was frequently suboptimal (only 34–36% achieving fCmin>MIC and 6–11% achieving fCmin>4×MIC), augmented renal clearance was common and independently associated with failure to achieve target concentrations at 48 hours, potentially neurotoxic levels were rare, and achieving pharmacodynamic targets did not correlate with time to clinical resolution of severe sepsis signs.

Antibiotics - In vitro susceptibility

Alanbari N, Amoura A, Guérin F, Cosson G, Pistien C, Magreault S, et al. Temocillin efficacy and emergence of resistance in Enterobacter cloacae complex in a murine peritonitis model. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2026 Jun;81(6):dkag151. doi:10.1093/jac/dkag151

  • Summary: This in vitro and high-inoculum murine peritonitis model study evaluated temocillin against Enterobacter cloacae complex (ECC) and found frequent and rapid emergence of resistant mutants across most tested temocillin-susceptible isolates after short exposure, with corresponding in vivo experiments showing higher mortality and resistance development in mice infected with Enterobacter asburiae compared with cefepime, despite some strain-dependent variability, leading to the conclusion that temocillin may be unreliable for severe ECC infections even when initial susceptibility is demonstrated due to its propensity for rapid resistance selection.

Cantón R, García-Castillo M, Hernández-García M, Sastre-Femenía MÀ, López-Causapé C, Ruiz-Garbajosa P, et al. Cefiderocol activity against multidrug-resistant isolates from the PERSEUS study: relationship between cefiderocol minimum inhibitory concentration and clinical outcomes. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2026 Jun;81(6):dkag164. doi:10.1093/jac/dkag164

  • Summary: This retrospective PERSEUS study of cefiderocol use under compassionate and early access programmes in Spain evaluated 57 multidrug-resistant Gram-negative isolates, predominantly Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and found an overall 86% susceptibility rate by EUCAST 2024 criteria with high concordance between commercial and reference broth microdilution methods, while whole-genome sequencing identified frequent metallo-β-lactamases and iron transport gene mutations among resistant isolates; importantly, clinical cure was sometimes achieved even in patients infected with isolates classified as resistant, highlighting discordance between MIC-based resistance and clinical outcomes and underscoring the need for standardized susceptibility testing and improved genotype–phenotype correlation.

Beta-Lactamases and Other Resistance Mechanisms

Joyce C, Anwar S, Hind C, Sutton JM, Sergaki C. Clinical impact of bacterial heteroresistance. JAC Antimicrob Resist. 2026 Jun;8(3):dlag075. doi:10.1093/jacamr/dlag075

  • Summary: This review describes bacterial heteroresistance as the presence of resistant subpopulations within an apparently antibiotic-susceptible bacterial population across multiple species and antibiotics, highlights its frequent under-detection in routine clinical microbiology due to limitations of standard susceptibility testing methods, and argues that failure to identify heteroresistance may contribute to misleading susceptibility classifications and suboptimal treatment outcomes, thereby calling for increased clinical awareness, incorporation into antimicrobial susceptibility testing guidelines, and development of improved diagnostic methods to better detect and manage heteroresistant infections.

Dorazio AJ, Aitken SL, Pierce VM, Kline EG, Squires KM, Pogue JM, et al. First report of treatment-emergent resistance to cefepime-zidebactam in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Clin Infect Dis. 2026 Jan 15;82(1):44-8. doi:10.1093/cid/ciaf638

  • Summary: This case report describes the first documented emergence of cefepime-zidebactam resistance leading to clinical failure in a patient with Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia, where the organism’s MIC increased from 8/8 to 32/32 mg/L during therapy, and whole-genome sequencing identified novel mutations in the MexAB-OprM efflux pump operon associated with cross-resistance to other β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor combinations including ceftazidime-avibactam and imipenem-relebactam, highlighting the potential for rapid adaptive resistance and multidrug cross-resistance during treatment.

Itoh N, Kawabata T, Akazawa N, Hayakawa K, Suzuki M, Sakurai A, et al. Carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative bacilli infections in Japanese patients with cancer. Sci Rep. 2026 May 23; doi:10.1038/s41598-026-54591-0

  • Summary: This multicenter prospective cohort study of 167 Japanese patients with carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative bacilli (CRGNB) infections compared outcomes between those with and without cancer and found no significant differences in 30-day mortality or length of hospital stay in crude and propensity-adjusted analyses, although cancer patients had a significantly higher risk of a composite adverse outcome (30-day mortality or clinical deterioration; OR 2.36), indicating that while mortality alone was not statistically different, CRGNB infections in cancer patients are associated with poorer overall clinical trajectories and underscore the need for enhanced preventive strategies in this high-risk population.

Rasmussen A, Porsbo LJ, Roer L, Sydenham TV, Hallstrøm S, Schønning K, et al. Gene transfer from NDM-5-producing and OXA-48-producing Enterobacter hormaechei ST79 on contaminated dicloxacillin capsules to other Enterobacterales in Europe, 2020–23: a retrospective, observational, molecular epidemiological study. Lancet Microbe. 2026 May 21; doi:10.1016/j.lanmic.2026.101354

  • Summary: Wow!! This retrospective genomic and epidemiological investigation of a large Danish outbreak linked to contaminated dicloxacillin capsules carrying Enterobacter hormaechei ST79 with blaNDM-5 and blaOXA-48 found that while initial clonal surveillance identified only a subset of cases, expanded plasmid-specific screening and long-read sequencing revealed extensive undetected dissemination of outbreak-associated IncX3 and IncL plasmids across multiple Enterobacterales species in 1829 isolates, demonstrating that the outbreak evolved from a single clonal event into a broader plasmid-mediated transmission network and highlighting the limitations of conventional strain-based outbreak detection and the importance of plasmid-focused genomic surveillance.

Barman J, Biswas P, Roy P, Hazra S. A divergent MBL-fold metallo-hydrolase (Kmh-1) from Klebsiella pneumoniae confers aztreonam degradation and expands the β-lactamase landscape. ACS Infect Dis. 2026 May 19; doi:10.1021/acsinfecdis.5c01093

  • Summary: This functional and structural characterization study describes Kmh-1, a novel metallo-β-lactamase-fold enzyme identified in Klebsiella pneumoniae with low sequence similarity to classical B1 metallo-β-lactamases and a divergent zinc-binding motif retaining only key residues, demonstrating that it requires zinc for activity and is capable of hydrolysing a broad range of β-lactams including aztreonam.

Mylona E, Kostourou S, Giankoula D, Kolokotroni C, Tsilikis P, Koudoumnakis N, et al. A seven-year study of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae bloodstream infections in a tertiary hospital in Greece: a shift toward metallo-β-lactamase and dual carbapenemase strains. Antibiotics (Basel). 2026 May 13;15(5):491. doi:10.3390/antibiotics15050491

  • Summary: This seven-year (2019–2025) single-centre study of 671 carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae bloodstream infection isolates in a Greek tertiary hospital found a shifting epidemiology with declining KPC producers after 2022 and a concurrent rise in dual carbapenemase-producing strains (KPC plus VIM/NDM) and single metallo-β-lactamase producers, particularly NDM, alongside increasing colistin resistance.

Egge SL, Kang D, Pouya N, Thornton PC, Flores E, Clarke K, et al. Genomic and clinical features associated with reduced susceptibility to cefiderocol and cross-resistance to β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitors in a global cohort of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. J Infect Dis. 2026 May 15; doi:10.1093/infdis/jiag263

  • Summary: This global Prospective Observational Pseudomonas (POP) study analysed 186 carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from 10 countries using whole-genome sequencing, cefiderocol susceptibility testing, and hollow-fibre infection modelling, finding that 5.9–10.8% were non-susceptible and up to 15.1% exhibited heteroresistance depending on breakpoints, with reduced susceptibility linked to diverse mechanisms including PirRS-regulated siderophore receptor alterations, AmpC and cpxS mutations, and presence of blaNDM and blaVEB, and independently associated with resistance to ceftolozane/tazobactam and ceftazidime/avibactam, while experimental models showed resistance emergence under simulated human exposures in heteroresistant but not fully susceptible isolates, collectively indicating that cefiderocol non-susceptibility is globally distributed across lineages and raising concerns about its durability as a salvage therapy for multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa infections.

Gottesdiener LS, Li Y, Greenwood-Quaintance KE, Komarow L, Arias CA, Cober E, et al. Resistance to novel β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitors among carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa and clinical implications in the prospective observational Pseudomonas study. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2026 May 15; doi:10.1128/aac.00388-25

  • Summary: This multinational study of 800 carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from 35 hospitals across nine countries assessed susceptibility to novel β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor combinations and found moderate overall activity for ceftolozane-tazobactam (69%) and ceftazidime-avibactam (67%), but substantially lower susceptibility to imipenem-relebactam (33%), with markedly poorer activity in carbapenemase-producing isolates and outside the USA.

Adverse Effects from Antimicrobial Agents

Özdede M, Balli Turhan FN, Geridönmez Ö, Kara E, Metan G. Comparative nephrotoxicity of polymyxin B versus colistin: evidence from ensemble learning and propensity score matching. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2026 Jun;81(6):dkag044. doi:10.1093/jac/dkag044

  • Summary: This retrospective analysis of 258 patients compared nephrotoxicity between colistin and polymyxin B for multidrug-resistant Gram-negative infections and found that colistin was associated with significantly higher rates of acute kidney injury (KDIGO stage II or higher) than polymyxin B in both unmatched (31% vs 19%) and propensity-matched cohorts (34.4% vs 14.1%). Complete renal recovery occurred in only 41% of cases within 30 days. As an observational study this is subject to a number of biases and confounders. These results are yet to be confirmed in an RCT.

Antibiotic Stewardship and Hospital in the Home

Kuijpers SME, Siepel M, Schut MC, van Hest R, Spijker R, Schade RP, et al. Methods for determining indications for antibiotic prescriptions to facilitate antimicrobial stewardship: a scoping review. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2026 May 24; doi:10.1016/j.cmi.2026.05.021

  • Summary: This scoping review of 157 studies on methods for determining antibiotic prescription indications for antimicrobial stewardship found that most research was conducted in high-income, multicentre, retrospective settings and relied either on manual extraction (43%) or automated approaches (57%). Overall, the review highlights substantial heterogeneity and key limitations in current approaches, including lack of granularity in coded data, workflow barriers in clinician-entered systems, and underuse of scalable AI methods, underscoring the need for standardised definitions and improved hybrid data-driven tools to enable more accurate and sustainable monitoring of antibiotic use in stewardship programmes.

Uren HD, Aliieva N, Jensen MPN, Matolinets N, Holcomb JB, Fedchyshyn N, et al. Can antimicrobial stewardship programmes be implemented during an armed conflict? A retrospective interventional cohort study. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2026 Jun;81(6):dkag115. doi:10.1093/jac/dkag115

  • Summary: This retrospective before-and-after study evaluated the implementation of an antimicrobial stewardship programme in a civilian hospital within the trauma evacuation pathway in Ukraine during active armed conflict.

Weiss ZF, Basu SS. Point-Counterpoint: The “obsoletogram”—are annual hospital antibiograms still relevant? J Clin Microbiol. 2026 May 22; doi:10.1128/jcm.00476-26

  • Summary: This perspective article discusses the role and evolving relevance of annual hospital antibiograms, while also addressing growing debate over their limitations in the context of modern precision medicine and rapid diagnostic technologies that may offer more individualized and timely resistance information.

Infection Prevention / Antibiotic Prophylaxis

Alzyood M, Veldhuis A, Stevenson H, Sheikh S. Hidden failure modes of large language models in healthcare-associated infection surveillance: a structured evaluation using NHSN definitions. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2026;47(6):568-73. doi:10.1017/ice.2026.10444

  • Summary: This study evaluated GPT-5.1 Thinking for classifying healthcare-associated infections using National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) definitions across 70 synthetic clinical vignettes and found that accuracy improved substantially with increasingly structured prompting (78.6% to 95.7%), particularly for infections with clearer diagnostic criteria such as surgical site infections and ventilator-associated pneumonia, but performance remained limited for complex definitions involving exclusion rules like CLABSI and CDI due to systematic errors including prioritization of clinical plausibility over surveillance rules, failure to apply temporal or quantitative thresholds, and incorrect hierarchical attribution; overall, the findings suggest that while large language models may assist infection surveillance under constrained, supervised settings, they are not yet reliable for autonomous NHSN classification and require further development and validation before clinical deployment.

Bloodstream Infections and Endocarditis

Timbrook TT, Neuner EA. How likely is non-inferiority? A Bayesian reappraisal of 7-day antibiotic trials in bacteremia. J Infect Public Health. 2026 May 21; doi:10.1016/j.jiph.2026.103266

  • Summary: This letter presents a Bayesian reanalysis of a prior systematic review and meta-analysis comparing 7- versus 14-day antibiotic therapy for Gram-negative bloodstream infections, using probabilistic noninferiority thresholds and sensitivity analyses with neutral and informative priors, and finds that shorter treatment durations are likely noninferior across multiple outcomes including 90-day mortality, relapse, acute kidney injury, diarrhea, and allergic reactions, with probabilities of noninferiority generally exceeding 66% and reaching up to 94% for mortality. Overall, the analysis supports shorter antibiotic courses as a generally safe and potentially beneficial antimicrobial stewardship strategy while acknowledging residual uncertainty in recurrence risk.

Gastrointestinal Tract Infections

Talan DA, Moran GJ, Machado-Aranda D, Chiang WK, Faine BA, Fleischman R, et al. Nonoperative treatment of appendicitis and implications for emergency department management: a narrative review. Ann Emerg Med. 2026 Jun;87(6):735-45. doi:10.1016/j.annemergmed.2025.09.035

  • Summary: This review summarizes evolving evidence challenging the traditional view of appendicitis as a surgical emergency, highlighting that modern imaging distinguishes uncomplicated from perforated disease and that uncomplicated appendicitis may often be infection-driven and self-limiting, with multiple multicenter trials involving over 4,000 adults and children demonstrating that nonoperative management using antibiotics and observation with selective surgery is a safe and effective alternative to urgent appendectomy; these findings have led the American College of Surgeons to endorse nonoperative treatment and suggest that most patients (up to 90%) may be safely managed in outpatient settings, with important implications for emergency care pathways and treatment de-escalation strategies.

Verma N, Mehtani R, Valsan A, Garg P, Nadda RK, Prasad S, et al. Epidemiology, predictors of antimicrobial resistance and empiric treatment strategies for spontaneous bacterial peritonitis in cirrhosis: a multicentre SBP-INDIA study. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2026 May 13; doi:10.1111/apt.70716

  • Summary: This multicentre study of 319 hospitalized patients with cirrhosis and culture-positive ascitic fluid infections in India found a high prevalence of multidrug-resistant (53.6%) and carbapenem-resistant organisms (24.1%), predominantly Gram-negative bacteria - MDRO infection was associated with worse survival, underscoring that empiric therapy should be risk-stratified based on clinical setting and severity to improve antimicrobial stewardship and outcomes.

Cadoli C, Müller V, Welsch C, Mühl H, Trebicka J, Kempf VAJ. Role of Gram-negative bacterial infections in acute-on-chronic liver failure. Liver Int. 2026 Jul;46(7):e70710. doi:10.1111/liv.70710

  • Summary: This review examines the role of bacteria, bacterial metabolites, and antimicrobial resistance in the pathogenesis and progression of acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF), highlighting how Gram-negative bacterial translocation from the gut and infections such as peritonitis, pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and skin infections contribute to systemic inflammation, acute decompensation of cirrhosis, multi-organ failure, and high mortality, while also emphasizing that rising multidrug resistance limits antimicrobial treatment options and that although preventive strategies show some promise, important limitations remain.

Olaru-Stavila C, Steinmann SM, Mester P, Müller M, Tcaciuc E, Gülow K. The gastrointestinal barrier—mechanisms of barrier dysfunction in liver cirrhosis and spontaneous bacterial peritonitis. Biomedicines. 2026 May;14(5):1084. doi:10.3390/biomedicines14051084

  • Summary: This review describes how gastrointestinal (GI) barrier dysfunction in liver cirrhosis arises from a combination of disrupted epithelial tight junctions, impaired mucus layer integrity, microbial dysbiosis with loss of beneficial short-chain fatty acid–producing bacteria and expansion of pathobionts, cirrhosis-associated immune dysfunction, and gut–vascular barrier breakdown, all of which synergistically promote bacterial translocation and drive spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP), systemic inflammation, circulatory dysfunction, and acute decompensation, while also highlighting emerging mechanistic insights such as bile acid–FXR signalling and microbiome-derived metabolites that may offer future therapeutic targets beyond current antibiotic-based and supportive management.

CNS Infections

Waldrop G, Reddy SP. Metagenomic next-generation sequencing in central nervous system infections: clinical strategies, evidence, and best practices. Clin Infect Dis. 2026 May 15;82(Suppl 4):S92-S99. doi:10.1093/cid/ciag120

  • Summary: This guidance article discusses the clinical application and interpretation of cerebrospinal fluid metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) for suspected central nervous system infections, emphasizing its shift from targeted molecular diagnostics to an agnostic, broad-spectrum approach that improves pathogen detection especially in atypical and immunocompromised cases. Although mNGS is described as a transformative tool capable of narrowing the diagnostic gap in CNS infections and aiding clinical decision-making, the authors stress that its utility is limited by cost, turnaround time, and the need for careful multidisciplinary interpretation, and it should complement rather than replace clinical judgment.

Respiratory Tract Infections

Cilloniz C, Pericàs JM, Miró JM, Torres A. Pulmonary infections in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection. Semin Respir Crit Care Med. 2026;47(2):204-214. doi:10.1055/a-2725-7350

  • Summary: This review summarizes the current evidence on pulmonary infections in people living with HIV, emphasizing that respiratory infections remain a major cause of hospitalization, morbidity, and mortality particularly in individuals with advanced immunosuppression, with pneumonia due to pathogens such as Pneumocystis jirovecii and Mycobacterium tuberculosis being most common, while also highlighting the diagnostic challenges posed by overlapping clinical presentations and frequent co-infections, and discussing updated approaches to epidemiology, clinical features, diagnosis, and management in the context of antiretroviral therapy.

Pitrowsky M, Pacheco MB, Ranzani O, Amado FS, Nassar Junior AP, Besen BAM, et al. Outcomes of pneumonia in ICUs in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review. N Engl J Med Evid. 2026 Jun;5(6):EVIDoa2500244. doi:10.1056/EVIDoa2500244

  • Summary: This systematic review and meta-analysis of 52 studies involving 48,707 patients across 18 countries estimated that community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in ICU patients in low- and middle-income settings is associated with high mortality (pooled ICU/28–30-day mortality 37%), rising substantially to 61% among those requiring mechanical ventilation, with age and mechanical ventilation identified as the strongest predictors of mortality explaining over half of between-study heterogeneity, while also highlighting that most available data come from upper-middle-income countries and that there is a notable absence of evidence from low-income countries.
  • Editorial Commentary:
    Helms L, Bebell LM. Severe pneumonia in low- and middle-income countries—a gap we can close. N Engl J Med Evid. 2026 Jun;5(6):EVIDe2600111. doi:10.1056/EVIDe2600111

Urinary Tract Infections

Beaumont AL, Danjean M, Jacquier H, Boyd A, Jaspard M, Royer G, et al. Dissemination of ESBL-producing Escherichia coli and carriage in the community worldwide: epidemiology, transmission pathways, molecular insights, and practical aspects. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2026 May 27; doi:10.1128/cmr.00274-25

  • Summary: This review examines global differences in community carriage of extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli (ESBL-Ec) since their worldwide spread in the early 2000s, highlighting lower prevalence in high-income countries compared with higher and more concerning rates in low- and middle-income countries, and attributing these disparities to a complex interplay of socioeconomic factors (such as income and Human Development Index), differing transmission dynamics (predominantly human–animal–environmental transmission in LMICs versus mainly inter-human spread in HICs), and distinct bacterial population structures (with LMICs enriched for phylogroups A and B1 and HICs for phylogroup B2); overall, the authors emphasize that ESBL-Ec dissemination is multifactorial and requires tailored public health interventions, including strengthened antimicrobial stewardship and context-specific control strategies to curb further global spread.

Infections in Children

Tenforde MW, Ujamaa D, Talbot HK, O’Halloran AC, Chai SJ, Sachdev D, et al. Prevalence and outcomes of bacterial co-detections by blood culture among children and adults hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed influenza, Influenza Hospitalization Surveillance Network, 2022–2024. Clin Infect Dis. 2026 May 21; doi:10.1093/cid/ciag242

  • Summary: This large US population-based FluSurv-NET surveillance study of 14,316 patients hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed influenza across the 2022–2023 and 2023–2024 seasons found that bacterial blood culture co-detections occurred in 5.2% of patients and were associated with progressively worse outcomes, including higher ICU admission rates and in-hospital mortality that increased from 1.5% in patients without cultures to 14.5% in those with multiple positive cultures; among identified pathogens, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae were the most common and were each associated with substantial severity and approximately 22% mortality, underscoring the significant clinical burden of influenza-associated bacterial co-infections and supporting the importance of preventive strategies such as vaccination to reduce morbidity and mortality.

O’Leary ST, Danchin M. Childhood vaccine hesitancy. N Engl J Med. 2026 May 20; doi:10.1056/NEJMcp2516616

  • Summary: This review discusses vaccine hesitancy along a spectrum in which most concerned parents remain motivated to protect their children but are primarily driven by safety concerns.

Msanga DR, Minja CA, Härtel C, Claus H, Mshana SE, Kurzai O, et al. Epidemiology, resistance and virulence of neonatal Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates from a tertiary hospital in Tanzania. J Infect Dis. 2026 May 11; doi:10.1093/infdis/jiag253

  • Summary: This retrospective molecular epidemiology study of 41 Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates from neonates with bloodstream infections at Bugando Medical Centre in Mwanza, Tanzania, demonstrated high levels of resistance to penicillins, cephalosporins, and aminoglycosides with frequent ESBL production, while carbapenems remained largely active (95.1% susceptibility). Phylogenetic clustering revealed multiple transmission events within the hospital and possible gut-to-bloodstream spread, highlighting significant nosocomial transmission dynamics and reinforcing the need for strengthened infection control and antimicrobial stewardship in neonatal care settings in low-resource environments.

Andersen M, Matthiesen NB, Murra M, Nielsen SY, Henriksen TB. Early-onset neonatal infection and cerebral palsy. JAMA Netw Open. 2026 May 26;9(5):e2614775. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.14775

  • Summary: This nationwide Danish cohort study of 1,034,416 near-term and full-term singleton births found that early-onset neonatal invasive bacterial infections were strongly associated with later development of cerebral palsy, with 0.8% experiencing sepsis and <0.1% meningitis, and demonstrating markedly increased adjusted odds of cerebral palsy in children with sepsis (OR 8.13), particularly culture-positive cases (OR 23.58), and even higher risks with meningitis (OR up to 79.57), with sepsis also more strongly linked to severe cerebral palsy phenotypes such as nonambulatory status and bilateral involvement, highlighting early neonatal infection as a major potentially preventable risk factor for long-term neurodevelopmental disability.

Dionisopoulos Z, Sabhaney V, D’Arienzo D, Fung A, Dent A, Cunningham J, et al. Prevalence of invasive bacterial infections among febrile infants aged 60 to 90 days: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Pediatr. 2026 May 26; doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2026.1815

  • Summary: This systematic review and meta-analysis of 20 cohorts including 34,835 well-appearing febrile infants aged 60–90 days evaluated in emergency and outpatient settings found a pooled prevalence of invasive bacterial infection of 1.11%, with bacteremia occurring in 1.01% and bacterial meningitis in 0.11%, providing contemporary risk estimates to inform clinical guidelines and shared decision-making between clinicians and parents regarding evaluation and management of fever in young infants.

Castejon-Ramirez S, Hijano DR, Wattier RL, Ferrolino J, Peterson M, Merritt P, et al. Early discontinuation of empiric antibiotics in pediatric haploidentical hematopoietic cell transplant recipients with febrile neutropenia. Clin Infect Dis. 2026 May 26; doi:10.1093/infdis/ciag327

Mycobacterial Infections

Brown TS, Nelson K, Kissler S, Martinez L, Horsburgh CR, White LF, et al. Understanding and exploiting superspreading to disrupt Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission. Lancet Infect Dis. 2026 May 14; doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(26)00168-4

  • Summary: This Personal View discusses tuberculosis transmission dynamics with a focus on individual heterogeneity in infectiousness and the concept of Mycobacterium tuberculosis superspreading, in which a small proportion of highly infectious individuals account for most secondary infections and clinical cases, and argues that this widely observed epidemiological pattern is supported by both historical and contemporary data and represents a critical opportunity for targeted public health interventions that could disproportionately reduce transmission and accelerate progress toward tuberculosis elimination by interrupting spread from the most infectious individuals.

Chihota V, Waggie Z, Cardenas V, Mngadi K, Ndebele F, Brumskine W, et al. Safety of short-course weekly rifapentine and isoniazid (3HP) for TB preventive treatment at conception and during first trimester in women living with HIV: a secondary analysis of WHIP3TB trial. Clin Infect Dis. 2026 May 17; doi:10.1093/cid/ciag315

  • Summary: This analysis of pregnancy outcomes within the WHIP3TB trial evaluated HIV-positive pregnant women receiving tuberculosis preventive therapy with once-weekly rifapentine–isoniazid for 3 months (3HP) or 6 months of isoniazid, and found that among 236 pregnancies in 222 participants, including 57 with first-trimester study drug exposure, rates of spontaneous abortion and a composite adverse pregnancy outcome (stillbirth, spontaneous abortion, low birth weight, preterm delivery, or congenital anomalies) were similar between exposed and unexposed groups (approximately 33–35%), with no evidence of increased harm associated with 3HP exposure during early pregnancy, thereby supporting its safety for tuberculosis prevention in this population.

Bandyopadhyay R, Manesh A, Kundu D, George MM, Nagaraj V, Varghese GM. Anti-IFN-γ autoantibodies and disseminated opportunistic infections in immunocompetent Indian adults. Int J Infect Dis. 2026 May 20; doi:10.1016/j.ijid.2026.108806

  • Summary: This cross-sectional study compared HIV-negative, apparently immunocompetent patients with disseminated intracellular opportunistic infections (n=44) or persistent tuberculosis (n=41) against healthy controls (n=34) and found significantly higher plasma anti-interferon-γ autoantibody levels in both patient groups, which were associated with severe opportunistic infections such as disseminated nontuberculous mycobacterial disease, cryptococcosis, and histoplasmosis as well as persistent tuberculosis, while elevated IL-12 levels were observed only in patients with disseminated intracellular infections; overall, the findings support anti-IFN-γ autoantibodies as a key immunological marker linked to adult-onset immunodeficiency phenotypes and severe opportunistic infections, highlighting their potential role in explaining disseminated infections in otherwise immunocompetent individuals.

Chen Y, Liang J, Liu D, Xu P, Jiang Q, Yang T, et al. Long-term spatiotemporal evolution of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis in China. Nat Commun. 2026 May 27; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-73577-0

  • Summary: This large-scale genomic study analyzing over 18,000 Mycobacterium tuberculosis genomes across China reconstructed the temporal and spatial evolution of drug resistance and found that resistance-conferring mutations to multiple antibiotics have repeatedly emerged, giving rise to hundreds to over a thousand small drug-resistant clades that have largely arisen within the past two decades, with transmission predominantly occurring within provinces but occasionally spreading geographically in association with human mobility and bacterial fitness; integration of genomic and CRISPRi screening data further identified mutations linked to the emergence and dissemination of resistance, highlighting the combined roles of bacterial adaptation and population movement in shaping local and regional tuberculosis epidemics in China.

Fungal Infections and Antifungal Agents

Wehbe E, Sreeharan T, Sutrave G, Bui J, Lau C, Park JY, et al. Voriconazole therapy and CYP2C19 phenotype: identifying patients who may need alternative antifungal therapy. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2026 Jun;81(6):dkag168. doi:10.1093/jac/dkag168

  • Summary: This multicentre retrospective study of 194 patients receiving voriconazole across three Australian hospitals evaluated whether CYP2C19 metabolizer phenotype influenced clinical switching to alternative antifungal therapy and found that, despite known pharmacogenomic effects on voriconazole exposure, switching decisions were not associated with CYP2C19 phenotype but were more strongly linked to adverse effects and higher inflammatory status (CRP), while pharmacokinetic analysis showed that all ultrarapid metabolizers on standard dosing had subtherapeutic drug levels unless doses were increased; overall, the findings suggest that voriconazole prescribing decisions are multifactorial and support a combined approach of pharmacogenomic testing to identify patients requiring dose adjustments alongside therapeutic drug monitoring to optimize exposure.

Standl L, Huber T, Bloos F, Thomas-Rüddel D, Träger J, Kluge S, et al. Diagnostic performance of β-(1→3)-D-glucan, two Candida antigen, and five anti-Candida antibody assays in ICU patients with sepsis and high risk for invasive candidiasis: a secondary endpoint of the CandiSep randomized clinical trial. J Clin Microbiol. 2026 May;64(5):e01500-25. doi:10.1128/jcm.01500-25

  • Summary: This analysis of sera from the CandiSep multicentre randomized trial involving 342 sepsis patients at high risk for invasive Candida infection found that 14.0% developed invasive candidiasis and 4.1% candidemia, and demonstrated that antigen-based biomarkers (β-(1→3)-D-glucan, Platelia mannan, and Serion mannan) were significantly elevated in infected patients whereas anti-Candida antibody levels were largely influenced by colonization rather than invasive disease; however, all assays showed suboptimal sensitivity and specificity at manufacturer cutoffs, with improved but still limited performance after recalibration (e.g., BDG sensitivity 46% for ICI and 64% for candidemia at 80% specificity), no significant differences between antigen tests, and no added diagnostic benefit from combining biomarkers, leading to the conclusion that while antigen assays have moderate utility for diagnosing invasive candidiasis in critically ill patients, antibody assays are of limited value and overall biomarker performance requires optimized thresholds rather than multiplexing strategies.

Feser M, Maphosa T, Shroufi A, Rangaraj A, Talbot VR, Songane M, et al. Clinical impact and cost-effectiveness of improving access to cryptococcal meningitis diagnostics and treatment in Malawi. Clin Infect Dis. 2026 May 28; doi:10.1093/infdis/ciag270

  • Summary: This cost-effectiveness modelling study using the CEPAC-I simulation framework evaluated strategies to improve cryptococcal meningitis (CM) outcomes among people living with HIV initiating care in Malawi with positive serum cryptococcal antigen testing and found that expanding access to optimal CM therapy (liposomal amphotericin B, flucytosine, and fluconazole) and enhancing diagnostic pathways (including semi-quantitative CrAg testing with confirmatory lumbar puncture for asymptomatic CrAg-positive individuals) modestly increased 1-year survival (up to +6.0%) and quality-adjusted life years while remaining highly cost-effective (ICERs US$140–380/QALY), demonstrating that both improved treatment access and earlier detection of asymptomatic CM are economically and clinically beneficial in high-burden, resource-limited settings.

Tan RYM, Chen ZX, Sivaraman J, Kong KW, Tan Z, Xu S, et al. Ubiquitination defect of XIAP as novel susceptibility to invasive fungal pneumonia. J Infect Dis. 2026 May 26; doi:10.1093/infdis/jiag272

  • Summary: This study demonstrates that hypomorphic mutations in the X-linked Inhibitor of Apoptosis Protein (XIAP) gene lead to dysregulated ubiquitination and enhanced apoptosis, resulting in impaired innate immune function and increased susceptibility to invasive fungal pneumonia, thereby highlighting the critical role of programmed cell death and protein ubiquitination pathways in maintaining immune homeostasis and antifungal defence.

Virulence

Schaufler K, Schmidt N, Schwabe M, Heiden SE, Fickenscher H, Woh PY, et al. Rethinking virulence screening in Klebsiella pneumoniae: a case for a standardised Galleria mellonella infection model. Lancet Microbe. 2026 Apr 28; doi:10.1016/j.lanmic.2026.101421

  • Summary: This study evaluates a standardized Galleria mellonella infection model as a scalable phenotypic system to validate Kleborate-based genomic classifications of Klebsiella pneumoniae, addressing the gap between high-throughput genomic virulence/resistance scoring and resource-intensive mammalian infection models, and demonstrates that when applied to an 80-isolate, phylogenetically diverse panel under harmonized experimental conditions, the model produces consistent survival patterns that clearly distinguish classic low-virulence isolates from hypervirulent and convergent high-risk strains, while showing minimal mortality for classic isolates regardless of resistance status and significantly reduced survival for hypervirulent and convergent categories; overall, the findings support G. mellonella as a reliable mid-throughput in vivo system for validating major K. pneumoniae pathotypes defined by genomic tools such as Kleborate, though with limited resolution for finer within-category differences.

Diagnostics

Bhatnagar AS, Harris H, Jacobs E, Bumpus-White P, Balbuena R, Stambaugh H, et al. Comparison of laboratory-developed methods for aztreonam plus ceftazidime-avibactam antimicrobial susceptibility testing for metallo-β-lactamase-producing Enterobacterales. J Clin Microbiol. 2026 May 22; doi:10.1128/jcm.01800-25

  • Summary: This multicentre evaluation of four laboratory-developed phenotypic methods for assessing aztreonam-based combination susceptibility in 102 metallo-β-lactamase-producing Enterobacterales compared performance across two institutions against reference broth microdilution and found substantial variability in accuracy and reproducibility depending on method, reagent, and media manufacturer, with broth disk elution achieving the highest and most consistent performance (>90% categorical agreement and reproducibility), while disk stacking and other strip-based approaches showed lower and more variable agreement; overall, the study highlights significant methodological heterogeneity in LDT-based testing for aztreonam-avibactam combinations and underscores the need for improved standardisation and harmonisation to ensure reliable clinical susceptibility results in the absence of FDA-cleared testing platforms.

Samuelsen Ø, López-Causapé C, Aarestrup FM, Bortolaia V, Brouwer MSM, Cantón R, et al. The role of whole genome sequencing in antimicrobial susceptibility prediction of bacteria: 2025 update from the EUCAST Subcommittee. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2026 May 15; doi:10.1016/j.cmi.2026.05.012

  • Summary: Recent EUCAST review highlights major advances in whole genome sequencing–based antimicrobial susceptibility prediction, particularly for Mycobacterium tuberculosis, but concludes that it is still not ready for routine clinical decision-making due to gaps in validation, standardization, and resistance mechanism coverage; it calls for integrated phenotypic-genotypic datasets, harmonized bioinformatics frameworks, and stronger external quality assurance to enable future clinical adoption.

Rotundo S, Russo A, Morena R, Garofalo E, Morrone HL, Mazza G, et al. Early targeted therapy guided by rapid phenotypic antimicrobial susceptibility testing in critically ill patients with Gram-negative bacterial bloodstream infections: a retrospective cohort study. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2026 Mar;81(3):dkag056. doi:10.1093/jac/dkag056

  • Summary: In a retrospective study of critically ill patients with Gram-negative bloodstream infections, rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing (RAST) was associated with earlier initiation of active therapy, reduced clinical failure, and significantly lower 30-day mortality compared with conventional susceptibility testing. Observational studies such as these may be subject to many biases and confounders - to suggest that RAST may improve survival outcomes in high MDR settings by enabling faster optimization of antibiotic treatment requires robust RCTs.

Govender KN, Street TL, Sanderson ND, Leach L, Morgan M, Eyre DW. Rapid diagnosis of common, undetected, and uncultivable bloodstream infections from positive blood cultures using Oxford Nanopore sequencing: a metagenomic pipeline analysis. Lancet Microbe. 2026 May 14; doi:10.1016/j.lanmic.2025.101333

  • Summary: A nanopore sequencing–based metagenomic workflow applied directly from positive blood cultures enabled rapid pathogen identification (within ~3.3 hours) and earlier antimicrobial resistance prediction (≈20 hours faster than standard testing), achieving high overall accuracy versus conventional diagnostics and demonstrating strong potential for faster, more comprehensive bloodstream infection management, although species-dependent variability in AMR prediction and the need for further validation limit immediate clinical adoption.

Improving Clinical Research

Albin O, Dickson RP, Rao K, Wunderink RG, Pogue J, Kaye KS. Derivation and preliminary validation of novel hierarchical composite endpoints for severe pneumonia clinical trials. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2026 May;212(Suppl 1):aamag162.4537. doi:10.1093/ajrccm/aamag162.4537

  • Summary: This study derived and validated novel hierarchical composite endpoints (HCEs) for severe pneumonia trials using clinician preference–informed frameworks (standard DOOR, partial credit DOOR, and Win Ratio) that integrate mortality, ventilation duration, discharge status, antibiotic toxicity, clinical cure, and recurrence, and applied them to the OVERCOME randomized trial comparing colistin monotherapy versus colistin plus carbapenem for extensively drug-resistant gram-negative infections, where conventional endpoints (28-day mortality and clinical failure) showed no significant differences but the Win Ratio analysis indicated a significant benefit for combination therapy, suggesting that HCEs may provide more sensitive and clinically informative interpretations of pneumonia trial outcomes.

Harrison LJ, Chow FC. Proportional odds or win probability as methods for assessing ordinal outcomes in infectious disease clinical trials. J Infect Dis. 2026 May 18; doi:10.1093/infdis/jiag193

  • Summary: This review discusses the use of ordinal outcomes in infectious disease trials and compares two key summary statistics—the proportional odds ratio, which estimates how much more likely treated participants are to fall into better outcome categories than controls, and the win probability, which quantifies the likelihood that a treated individual outperforms a control in a random pairwise comparison—while also introducing stacked-bar charts and bubble plots as visual tools to improve the interpretability and accessibility of ordinal trial results.

Kaddaj D, Baas S, Tang EYN, Robertson DS, Pin L, Villar SS. Thompson, Ulam, or Gauss? Multi-criteria recommendations for posterior probability computation methods in Bayesian response-adaptive trials with binary endpoints. Comput Stat Data Anal. 2026 Nov;223:108401. doi:10.1016/j.csda.2026.108401

  • Summary: This study develops a novel exact algorithm for efficiently computing posterior probabilities in Bayesian response-adaptive randomisation (BRAR) clinical trials with binary endpoints and uses it to benchmark common approximation methods, showing that exact computation is often faster and more reliable for small to moderate numbers of treatment arms, while widely used Gaussian and other approximations can lead to reduced power and inflated type I error rates, and it further provides a practical framework to guide when to use exact versus approximate methods to balance computational efficiency, accuracy, and patient benefit in adaptive trial design.

Antola S, Gallone S, Murgia Y, Giacobbe DR, Bassetti M, Giacomini M. A unified database for a set of clinical studies on the treatment of bacterial and fungal infections within the MULTI-SITA project. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2026;336:1880-4. doi:10.3233/SHTI260564

  • Summary: This paper describes the MULTI-SITA observational pharmacological study across 30 Italian centers and its transition from multiple study-specific databases to a unified SQL Server-based data management system with a modular architecture and Blazor Server web interface, improving data interoperability, scalability, and usability for clinicians while supporting future research studies and enabling potential alignment with the OMOP Common Data Model.

Kessels R, Long Y, Spijker R, Schuit E, Hollestelle M, van Lieshout C, et al. A knowledge base of designs and statistical methods for adaptive clinical dose-finding trials. Pharm Stat. 2026 May 19; doi:10.1002/pst.70074

  • Summary: This literature review of 315 methodological papers on adaptive dose-finding clinical trials summarizes the evolving landscape of designs used to identify optimal drug doses for later-phase studies, highlighting a strong oncology focus and recent methodological advances that incorporate both toxicity and efficacy outcomes, subgroup- and combination-therapy dose finding, and delayed responses, while noting a shift from traditional model-based approaches such as the Continual Reassessment Method (CRM) toward model-assisted and interval-based designs like Toxicity Probability Interval (TPI) and Bayesian Optimal Interval (BOIN), and it further proposes an interactive classification map to help researchers navigate and select appropriate dose-finding methodologies amid the growing diversity of available approaches.

Company Announcements

Pfizer Inc. Pfizer advances pivotal pediatric pneumococcal vaccine program following strong positive phase 2 results. 2026 May 20. Available from: https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-advances-pivotal-pediatric-pneumococcal-vaccine

  • Summary: Pfizer reported Phase 2 results for its investigational 25-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (25vPnC) in infants, showing strong immunogenicity across all 25 serotypes with particularly marked improvements against serotype 3 (approximately 9-fold higher after dose 3 and 15-fold higher after dose 4 compared with Prevnar 20), along with a safety and tolerability profile consistent with existing pneumococcal vaccines and no new safety concerns, supporting advancement into a pivotal Phase 3 pediatric program aiming to expand protection to up to 90% of disease-causing serotypes in young children while also noting Pfizer’s broader strategy shift toward a next-generation 35-valent adult pneumococcal vaccine candidate entering development by 2026.

Gilead Sciences Inc. FDA grants accelerated approval to Gilead’s Hepcludex (bulevirtide-gmod), the first and only approved treatment for chronic hepatitis delta virus (HDV). 2026 May 22. Available from: https://www.gilead.com/news/news-details/2026/fda-grants-accelerated-approval-to-gileads-hepcludex-bulevirtide-gmod-the-first-and-only-approved-treatment-for-chronic-hepatitis-delta-virus-hdv

  • Summary: Gilead Sciences announced that the FDA has granted accelerated approval for Hepcludex (bulevirtide-gmod) 8.5 mg, making it the first and only approved treatment in the United States for chronic hepatitis delta virus (HDV) infection in adults, based on Phase 3 MYR301 trial data showing statistically significant reductions in HDV RNA and ALT normalization versus delayed treatment, with sustained virologic and biochemical responses and generally good tolerability; however, clinical outcome benefits remain unproven and continued approval will depend on confirmatory trials, marking a major milestone for a severe and high-risk liver disease with substantial unmet medical need.

GlaxoSmithKline plc. Bepirovirsen achieves unprecedented functional cure rates with potential to redefine treatment for chronic hepatitis B. 2026 May 28. Available from: https://www.gsk.com/en-gb/media/press-releases/bepirovirsen-achieves-unprecedented-functional-cure-rates-with-potential-to-redefine-treatment-for-chronic-hepatitis-b

  • Summary: GSK announced positive pivotal Phase III B-Well 1 and B-Well 2 trial results for bepirovirsen, an investigational antisense oligonucleotide for chronic hepatitis B, showing a statistically significant 19% functional cure rate in the overall population and 26% in patients with lower baseline viral activity compared with 0% on standard of care alone, alongside exploratory findings that 49% of treated patients achieved low hepatitis B surface antigen levels (≤100 IU/mL) and meaningful sustained viral suppression after treatment cessation, with an acceptable safety profile and no new safety concerns, supporting its potential as the first therapy to meaningfully increase functional cure rates in a disease affecting over 240 million people worldwide and currently requiring lifelong antiviral therapy in most patients. This announcement coincided with a publication on the trial results in NEJM (see below).

Hou J, Lim SG, Buti M, Yuen MF, Gane E, Lampertico P, et al. Phase 3 results of bepirovirsen treatment for chronic hepatitis B virus infection. N Engl J Med. 2026 May 28; doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2515131

  • Summary: In two replicate phase III randomized, double-blind B-Well trials involving adults with noncirrhotic chronic hepatitis B receiving stable nucleos(t)ide analogue therapy, 24 weeks of bepirovirsen treatment followed by treatment cessation led to a significantly higher functional cure rate at week 72 compared with placebo (20% vs 0% in B-Well 1 and 19% vs 0% in B-Well 2), defined as sustained HBV DNA below the lower limit of quantification and hepatitis B surface antigen loss after stopping therapy, although the treatment was associated with higher rates of adverse events including increased grade 3 events such as alanine aminotransferase elevations.
  • Editorial Commentary:
    Lok AS. A major step toward a cure for hepatitis B infection. N Engl J Med. 2026 May 28; doi:10.1056/NEJMe2605575

General Interest

Dalovisio JR, Winslow DL. A tribute to George Atkinson Pankey MD, MACP, FIDSA, 1933–2026. J Infect Dis. 2026 May 19; doi:10.1093/infdis/jiag233

  • Summary: George Atkinson “Kin” Pankey, MD, a pioneering infectious diseases physician and one of the earliest specialists board certified in infectious diseases in 1972, died at age 92 on 31 March 2026, and is remembered for founding the infectious diseases discipline at Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans in 1963.

Laxminarayan R, Limmathurotsakul D, de Abreu AL, Alimi Y, Karkey A, Kanj SS, et al. Meeting the 2024 UN General Assembly declaration targets on antimicrobial resistance. Lancet. 2026 May 19; doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(26)00979-7

  • Summary: At the 2024 UN General Assembly high-level meeting on antimicrobial resistance, countries unanimously agreed to global targets including a 10% reduction in bacterial AMR-related mortality by 2030 compared with 2019 levels, an increase in Access-classified antibiotics to at least 70% of total human antibiotic use under the WHO AWaRe framework to promote first-line, lower-resistance treatments, and strengthened efforts to control and reduce antibiotic use in animals as part of a broader global strategy to address antimicrobial resistance.

Aronson NE, Musa AM, Satoskar AR. Leishmaniasis. N Engl J Med. 2026;394:2026-39. doi:10.1056/NEJMra2403309

  • Summary: Leishmaniasis is discussed with key points including rising cutaneous cases particularly in the Eastern Mediterranean region and a global decline in visceral disease, alongside evolving diagnostic practices toward molecular testing of tissue samples for species identification, limited treatment options now increasingly supplemented by combination therapies for visceral disease, and emerging vaccine candidates currently in preclinical or early human testing stages.

Jaber WA, Motairek I, Cho L, Sperry BW. The unpaid infrastructure of cardiovascular science. JACC Adv. 2026 Jun;5(6 Pt 2):102837. doi:10.1016/j.jacadv.2026.102837

  • Summary: Peer review and professional society service in cardiovascular medicine rely heavily on unpaid physician volunteer labor, with millions of peer reviews performed annually representing tens of millions of hours dedicated to evaluating manuscripts and ensuring scientific integrity, forming an essential but often unrecognized foundation behind major advances in cardiology including clinical trials, imaging innovations, and device therapies. The same could be said of infectious diseases..

Hojat LS, Furin JJ, Hudda NM, Bonomo RA. Antimicrobial resistance and climate change: interlinked crises demanding global response. In: Henao-Martínez AF, editor. Global Health, Climate Change, and Emerging Infectious Diseases. Cham: Springer; 2026. p. 295-327. doi:10.1007/978-3-032-21237-5_16

  • Summary: This article argues that climate change and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) should be viewed as an interconnected global public health crisis rather than separate issues, as climate change accelerates AMR through mechanisms such as increased pathogen growth, extreme weather impacts, and reduced healthcare access, while AMR in turn affects ecosystems, biodiversity, and industry, with both disproportionately harming socioeconomically vulnerable populations and therefore requiring urgent, equity-focused global action grounded in the One Health framework to promote sustainability, climate justice, and coordinated international accountability to mitigate and potentially reverse these combined threats.

Karthikeyan G, Devasenapathy N, Ghosh A, et al. Digoxin in patients with symptomatic rheumatic heart disease: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2026 May 10; doi:10.1001/jama.2026.7335

  • Summary: In a multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of 1,769 patients with symptomatic rheumatic heart disease in India, digoxin compared with placebo modestly reduced the composite outcome of all-cause death or new-onset or worsening heart failure over a median 2.1-year follow-up (31.4% vs 35.5%; hazard ratio 0.82), driven mainly by fewer heart failure events rather than mortality, while showing low rates of discontinuation due to suspected toxicity, suggesting a potential therapeutic benefit for symptom and heart failure progression management in this high-burden population.

Islam MS, Chughtai AA, Wood JG, Sawleshwarakar S, Muscatello DJ, Seale H. Hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship in the South Atlantic. Lancet. 2026 May 15; doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(26)00934-7

  • Summary: A suspected hantavirus outbreak involving Andes virus was reported among passengers and crew on a cruise ship traveling from Ushuaia, Argentina, with seven cases (including two confirmed) and three deaths among 147 individuals across multiple countries, suggesting a high case-fatality rate and possible person-to-person transmission in a confined maritime setting, with epidemiologic evidence indicating an incubation-consistent index exposure likely occurring in Argentina followed by secondary transmission onboard, highlighting concerns about rapid spread, multi-generational transmission potential, and the need for strengthened surveillance, infection control, and early detection strategies such as wastewater monitoring in cruise ship environments.

Klompas M, Al-Hasan M, Al Mohajer M, Colgrove R, Doron S, File T, et al. Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) position statement: why IDSA did not endorse the community-acquired pneumonia guidelines 2025 update. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2026 May;212(5):1064-6. doi:10.1093/ajrccm/aamag065

  • Summary: In a formal correspondence regarding the 2025 American Thoracic Society community-acquired pneumonia guideline update, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) explains its decision not to endorse the revision despite agreement with most recommendations, citing disagreement with guidance that supports empiric antibiotic use in certain adults with viral-positive pneumonia—specifically outpatients with comorbidities and inpatients with non-severe disease—due to concerns that such practices may lead to unnecessary antibacterial exposure in viral infections, increasing risks of harm and undermining antimicrobial stewardship at both individual and population levels.

Jones BE, Ramirez JA. Reply to the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) position statement. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2026 May;212(5):1067-8. doi:10.1093/ajrccm/aamag074

  • Summary: In response to the Infectious Diseases Society of America’s decision not to endorse updated American Thoracic Society–IDSA community-acquired pneumonia guidelines, the guideline committee explains that its consensus-based recommendations were developed through a multidisciplinary and patient-inclusive process and support empiric antibiotic use in most hospitalized adults with viral-positive non-severe pneumonia and in outpatients with comorbidities due to an estimated ~20% risk of bacterial–viral coinfection, while reserving antibiotic withholding for low-risk outpatients without comorbidities; the authors argue that this reflects a deliberate balance between antimicrobial stewardship and individual patient safety in the context of diagnostic uncertainty, limited outcome data, and differing interpretations of acceptable risk, and they express concern that IDSA’s non-endorsement may hinder future collaborative guideline development.

Arias CA. The Maxwell Finland Lecture 2025: antimicrobial resistance at the bedside: translating science into patient outcomes. J Infect Dis. 2026 May 26; doi:10.1093/infdis/jiag273

  • Summary: This article discusses antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as a major global public health threat driven by the rapid evolutionary capacity of microorganisms and multifactorial selective pressures, highlighting how rising multidrug-resistant organisms continue to undermine the effectiveness of antibiotics and challenge infectious disease management, while also reflecting on the historical contributions of Dr. Maxwell Finland in shaping modern antimicrobial therapy and emphasizing the increasing relevance of his legacy in the current era of diminishing antibiotic efficacy.
     
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