Infectious Diseases Newsletter

Meet Paula Dellamura, MPH, who is part of a Yale team that travels to Southeast Asia and Central Asia annually to deliver an intensive three-day boot camp training.

In the “post-antibiotic era,” Yale researchers and clinicians are doing their part to reduce the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

In new research published in Nature Communications, Yale School of Public Health epidemiologist Dr. Sunil Parikh, MD, MPH, and colleagues from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Cameroon, present a new noninvasive test that could dramatically alter the global malaria testing landscape by providing reliable, safe, and sensitive testing to low- and middle-income countries that have been plagued by the deadly mosquito-borne disease.

Babesiosis, a tick-borne disease caused by Babesia parasites, is on the rise in the United States. The disease often presents with flu-like symptoms, but in some individuals, can progress to a more severe condition. Yet, despite the increasing significance of babesiosis in public health, there is limited understanding of the parasites’ biology, pathogenesis, and mechanism of virulence. Building on research initially reported in 2018 by a team of scientists led by Choukri Ben Mamoun, PhD, professor of medicine (infectious diseases), of microbial pathogenesis, and of pathology at Yale School of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded a $834,372 grant to further investigate Babesia biology and pathogenicity.

Erol Fikrig, MD, is honored for his work leading to a Lyme disease vaccine, and Haifan Lin, PhD, is recognized for two "hallmark" stem cell theories.

Approximately 1% to 5% of people who are infected with syphilis will develop a complication of the disease called neurosyphilis. This occurs when the bacteria that causes syphilis, Treponema pallidum, infects the central nervous system. Neurosyphilis can be asymptomatic, but it can also be associated with stroke, muscle weakness, cognitive changes, and vision or hearing loss. Researchers at Yale School of Medicine set out to understand why some people with syphilis develop neurosyphilis, and if there might be long-term effects of the disease on the immune system even after successful treatment with antibiotics. The results were published in the October 2, 2024 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases.

Lenacapavir could be a revolutionary tool for HIV prevention, an interim analysis shows.