1- Monday Infectious Disease News – 25th October

1 – A study of COVID vaccine boosters suggests Moderna or Pfizer works best

• If you got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as your first COVID-19 shot, a booster dose of either the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine apparently could produce a stronger immune response than a second dose of J&J’s vaccine. That’s the finding of a highly anticipated study released Wednesday.
• And if you started out with either Pfizer or Moderna, it probably doesn’t matter that much, the research suggests, as long as you get one of the two mRNA vaccines as a booster.
• The study, which was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, involved 458 volunteers.
• They were divided into nine groups with roughly 50 volunteers in each group.
• Those who initially got the two-dose Moderna or Pfizer vaccines got either a Moderna shot, a Pfizer shot or a Johnson & Johnson shot as a booster four to six months after their primary immunization.
• And people who got the one-shot J&J vaccine either got another J&J shot or a Moderna or Pfizer booster.
• The researchers then measured antibody levels in all of those people two weeks and four weeks after the boost.

Source: NPR

2 – Vertical Transmission of Gut Microbiome and Antimicrobial Resistance Genes in Infants Exposed to Antibiotics at Birth

• Vertical transmission of maternal microbes is a major route for establishing the gut microbiome in newborns.
• The impact of perinatal antibiotics on vertical transmission of microbes and antimicrobial resistance is not well understood.
• Using a metagenomic approach, we analyzed the fecal samples from mothers and vaginally delivered infants from a control group (10 pairs) and a treatment group (10 pairs) receiving perinatal antibiotics.
• Antibiotic-usage had a significant impact on the main source of inoculum in the gut microbiome of newborns.
• In conclusion, perinatal antibiotics markedly disturbed vertical transmission and changed the source of gut colonization towards horizontal transfer from the environment to the infants.

Source: Oxford Academic

3 – Multifunctional Antibodies Are Induced by the RTS,S Malaria Vaccine and Associated With Protection in a Phase 1/2a Trial

• RTS,S is the leading malaria vaccine candidate but only confers partial efficacy against malaria in children.
• RTS,S is based on the major Plasmodium falciparum sporozoite surface antigen, circumsporozoite protein (CSP).
• The induction of anti-CSP antibodies is important for protection; however, it is unclear how these protective antibodies function.
• This data suggest a role for Fc-dependent antibody effector functions in RTS,S-induced immunity.
• Enhancing the induction of these functional activities may be a strategy to improve the protective efficacy of RTS,S or other malaria vaccines.

Source: Oxford Academic

4- Limited Neutralization of Authentic Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Variants Carrying E484K In Vitro

• Whether monoclonal antibodies are able to neutralize severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants of concern has been investigated using pseudoviruses.
• In this study they show that bamlanivimab, casirivimab, and imdevimab efficiently neutralize authentic SARS-CoV-2, including variant B.1.1.7 (alpha), but variants B.1.351 (beta) and P.2 (zeta) were resistant against bamlanivimab and partially resistant to casirivimab.
• Whether antibodies are able to neutralize severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variantshas been investigated using pseudoviruses.
• They show that authentic SARS-CoV-2 carrying E484K were resistant against bamlanivimab and less susceptible to casirivimab, convalescent and vaccine-elicited sera.

Source: Oxford Academic

5 – Antibiotic prescription policy for acute otitis media: do we follow the guidelines?

• Acute otitis media (AOM) is a common cause for antibiotic prescription.
• Most guidelines endorse abstaining from immediate antibiotic treatment (‘watchful waiting’, WW) in mild–moderate episodes.
• In this study they studied adherence rates to the latest AOM guidelines (2013), in terms of antibiotic type and prescription options.
• Improved adherence to the 2013 guidelines was observed only in children aged ≤6 months and over-treatment with antibiotics was still high.

Source: Oxford Academic

6 – Bactericidal activities and post-antibiotic effects of ofloxacin and ceftriaxone against drug-resistant Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi

• The clinical response to ceftriaxone in patients with typhoid fever is significantly slower than with ofloxacin, despite infection with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (S. Typhi) isolates with similar susceptibilities (MIC 0.03–0.12 mg/L).
• The response to ofloxacin is slower if the isolate has intermediate susceptibility (MIC 0.25–1.0 mg/L).
• This study aims to determine the bactericidal activity and post-antibiotic effect (PAE) of ceftriaxone and ofloxacin against S. Typhi.
• Infections with S. Typhi with intermediate ofloxacin susceptibility may respond to doses that maintain ofloxacin concentrations at 4×MIC at the site of infection.
• The slow bactericidal activity of ceftriaxone and absent PAE may explain the slow clinical response in typhoid.

Source: Oxford Academic

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