Division Of Infectious Diseases

A Vanderbilt study concluded that RSV’s ability to mutate rapidly to escape detection by the body’s immune system makes it more challenging to design and develop vaccines that can stop it from spreading. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers find that invasive Group B Streptococcus strains, a significant risk to pregnant patients and infants, can grow in presence of toxic zinc levels. Read More

H. pylori infection — a strong risk factor for stomach cancer — changes the composition of stomach lipids, which could offer new biomarkers for detecting premalignant changes, Vanderbilt researchers discovered. Read More

Hospital data from a CDC network that monitors influenza revealed that adults hospitalized for COVID-19 in the early months of the pandemic were 20x more likely to die compared to hospitalized influenza patients. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers find that heterosexually active Black males are the least likely to establish HIV care within one month of diagnosis and suggest that targeted interventions focus on this population. Read More

In HIV-positive individuals with diabetes, immune cells in fat are more proinflammatory and cytotoxic and may represent a therapeutic target for diabetes. Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators have identified a key molecular player in the early events of the inflammatory response to infection. The findings suggest new therapeutic possibilities for enhancing the inflammatory response to protect against pathogens and for blocking inflammation gone awry in diseases like arthritis and atherosclerosis. Read More

Studies using large DNA biobanks revealed genetic variants associated with penicillin allergy, the most common type of drug-induced allergic reaction. Read More

A new paper proposes an ethical way to test drug safety during pregnancy by using electronic health data to conduct "virtual" drug trials. Read More

An inexpensive generic drug once used to prevent gastrointestinal ulcers in people taking daily NSAIDs protects against C. diff infection in mice. Read More

A 19-year-old student is leading a multi-institutional collaboration to identify drugs that can be prescribed safely to pregnant women without harming the fetus. Read More

Idiopathic subglottic stenosis is an unexplained narrowing of the windpipe just below the vocal cords. The disease is progressive, slowly affecting the patient’s ability to breathe, and can be fatal due to airway obstruction if left untreated. Read More

Antimicrobial resistance continues to increase, and antimicrobial stewardship programs are developing plans to report antimicrobial use in order to reduce and optimize the use of antibiotics. Read More

Patients who take a cholesterol-lowering statin drug while taking the antibiotic daptomycin have increased risk of developing muscle weakness or a more severe form of muscle damage. Read More

Infectious Disease fellow Milner Staub, MD, is among the first awardees of the Leadership in Epidemiology, Antimicrobial Stewardship, and Public health (LEAP) Fellowship. Read More

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2011 in the United States there were almost half a million Clostridium difficile infections, and one in 11 patients 65 or older with a healthcare-associated C. diff infection died within 30 days of diagnosis. Read More

An influenza diagnosis for people 65 and older is serious. Up to 85 percent of influenza-related deaths occur in older adults, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention reports. Read More

When chronic disease patients let their care lapse and fail to show for clinic appointments, it may behoove clinics to reach out and encourage a return to care. Read More

Rates of new HIV infections in the United States are declining — except among men who have sex with men. Rates are particularly high among African-American and Hispanic men and especially in the South. Read More

Infectious diseases specialist David Aronoff, M.D., recently became one of 73 new fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology, an honorific leadership group within the American Society of Microbiology. Read More