Gerard Gallagher

Two new drugs give clinicians hope against gonorrhea The quest to contain gonorrhea has been a decades-long struggle, but there is hope on the horizon in the form of new medications, clinicians said. In December, the FDA approved the first two new antib...

Recent news about gonorrhea:

❌ Doxy-PEP
❌ Vaccine
✅ New antibiotics

“There’s great hope and enthusiasm in the STI community for these new treatment options.” - Jodie A. Dionne, MD, MSPH

But should they be used right away? Answers to that and more 👇🏻

www.healio.com/news/infecti...

Hope for gonorrhea vaccine wanes after failed trial DENVER — In 2017, researchers in New Zealand published the first evidence that a vaccine might be able to prevent gonorrhea, a wily STI that has confounded scientists with it ability to dodge just abo...

🗣️ “I have been working on this beautiful bacteria for 20 years and I will not give up hope.” - Kate L. Seib, PhD

🗣️ “I think we have to try to design a better vaccine.” - Jean-Michel Molina, MD, PhD

Bummer results from #CROI2026 👇🏻

www.healio.com/news/infecti...

SNAP improves adherence to HIV treatment, study shows DENVER — Researchers here presented what they said is the first evidence demonstrating that benefits paid through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, can improve a person&rsq...

🍎 Researchers at #CROI2026 presented the first evidence that SNAP benefits can increase adherence to HIV treatment.

Presented by: @draaron.bsky.social

Comments from: @jenkatesdc.bsky.social

Details from Denver ⬇

#HIVSky #IDSky

www.healio.com/news/infecti...

🚨 🔊 Nothing like a shrieking fire alarm to fully wake you up for the morning sessions at #CROI2026.

(It was a false alarm. The fire department gave the all clear.)

#HIVSky #IDSky #MedSky

Always nice to see the Big Blue Bear.

We're at #CROI2026 in Denver, covering the latest research in HIV, STIs and more.

Check out our coverage this coming week and beyond at the link below 👇🏻

#IDSky #HIVSky #MedSky

www.healio.com/news/infecti...

Guinea worm nears eradication, Carter Center says Only 10 human cases of Guinea worm disease were reported worldwide in 2025 — the lowest number ever recorded.The Carter Center announced the historic data just after the 1-year anniversary of former President Jimmy Carter’s passing. The center, named for Carter and his wife Rosalynn, took over the global Guinea worm eradication effort in 1986, when there were approximately 3.5 million cases

❗#GuineaWorm is on track to be the second eradicated human disease —second only to smallpox — with just 10 human cases reported globally in 2025.

vist.ly/4sesi

Story: www.healio.com/news/infecti...

🚨 A meeting of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices that was scheduled for next week will not take place, HHS confirms to our @caitstulpin.bsky.social.

Story to follow. First reported by @statnews.com.

White House picks NIH director Bhattacharya to run CDC for now NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, has been picked to also serve as acting director of the CDC, a White House official confirmed to Healio. Bhattacharya will oversee both agencies until a permane...

“Both are 24/7 roles and in different cities. This continues the lack of onsite leadership for CDC and puts all of us at risk if our federal public health agency isn’t ready for the next health threat.”

Confirmation from the White House, and reaction to the news 👇🏻

www.healio.com/news/infecti...

South Carolina measles outbreak nears 1,000 cases A measles outbreak in South Carolina has become the largest in the United States in more than 30 years. As of Feb. 10, 933 measles cases have been reported in upstate South Carolina since September. T...

“I am concerned that we have shifted the balance between individual liberty and caring for our neighbors so far to the extreme that we no longer represent what was great about the U.S.”

#Measles continues to surge in the US 👇🏻

#IDSky #MedSky

www.healio.com/news/pediatr...

US now has opposing childhood vaccine schedules: What to know When HHS overhauled the CDC’s childhood immunization schedule in January, it significantly reduced the number of vaccines recommended for all children, which experts said will reduce vaccination rates...

💉 The US now has opposing childhood vaccine schedules.

👩🏻‍⚕️ Physician groups and most states have rejected the Trump administration's recent overhaul of the CDC schedule in favor of the AAP schedule.

We put together a shot-by-shot explanation of the differences 👇🏻

www.healio.com/news/infecti...

CDC carries on without a permanent director More than a year into the second Trump administration, the CDC is still operating without a permanent director — which, former CDC officials said, puts national health and safety at risk.“...

Five-plus months have passed since Jim O’Neill became acting director of the CDC.

Federal law says he must be formally nominated or step down by the end of March.

There has been no indication he will be replaced by a permanent director.

www.healio.com/news/infecti...

Study: Insects can spread infections in health care settings Insects may play a role in transmitting pathogens in heath care settings, according to findings from a systematic review.The review of 73 studies from around the globe uncovered “limited but com...

“[Infection prevention programs] and health care epidemiologists should consider arthropods as potential contributors to outbreaks, especially when a source is elusive."

#IDSky 🪳 🪰 🐜

www.healio.com/news/infecti...

Now that split is final, what if US wants to rejoin WHO? On Thursday, HHS announced that the United States has completed its withdrawal from WHO. The process began a year ago when President Donald J. Trump, on the night of his inauguration, announced plans ...

🌐 Now that the US-WHO split is final, what if a future administration wanted to rejoin? We spoke with Lawrence O. Gostin, JD, about the withdrawal and what would be required to reverse it.

#IDSky #MedSky

www.healio.com/news/infecti...

Compensation, current events impact ID recruitment The number of physicians who matched in fellowship programs for adult infectious diseases declined in 2025, according to Match Day stats released in December. In all, 272 physicians matched with adult...

The number of physicians who matched in fellowship programs for ID declined again.

But ...

"This was an exceptionally difficult year for medicine and science overall ... and yet trainees are still choosing infectious diseases." - @darcy-id-doc.bsky.social

#IDSky

www.healio.com/news/infecti...

Physicians sue to block changes to child vaccine schedule The American Academy of Pediatrics and five other medical professional societies are asking a court to undo HHS’s recent overhaul of the childhood vaccine schedule. The AAP, American College of Physic...

“The litigation has a reasonable chance to succeed, including putting a pause on the change to the vaccine schedule. The postponement of the next ACIP meeting will be harder to win but still possible."

#IDSky #MedSky #PedsSky

www.healio.com/news/pediatr...

Kennedy names two new members to CDC vaccine advisory committee HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has named two new members to the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee. The new appointees are both OB/GYNs who have publicly questioned the safety of giving some vaccin...

The new appointees are both OB/GYNs who have publicly questioned the safety of giving vaccines during pregnancy, in line with the views of some of Kennedy’s other selections for the ACIP.

#IDSky #MedSky #PedSky

www.healio.com/news/infecti...

Zika 10 years later: Should we expect a resurgence? The Zika virus epidemic that began in Brazil in 2015 and quickly spread to other countries caused an unprecedented flood of neurological disease, especially among infants, and changed the perception o...

“More than anything, I wish we knew when Zika virus would roar back as a new epidemic."

🦟 #IDSky #MedSky

www.healio.com/news/infecti...

Where does ‘The Pitt’ rank among the best medical shows? The second season of the Emmy-award winning hospital drama “The Pitt” premieres Jan. 8 on HBO Max.The series is a real-time chronicle of a 15-hour shift in the ED of a fictional Pittsburgh...

What did we miss?

#MedSky #EMSky #EMedSky #IDSky

www.healio.com/news/infecti...

‘The Pitt’ has something for every specialty Emergency physicians cheered last September when “The Pitt” won five Emmy Awards, including for best drama.They “felt seen and heard” when Noah Wyle, who won best actor in a dr...

The second season of “The Pitt” debuts Thursday on HBO Max.

The show is set in a Pittsburgh ED, but anyone who works in medicine will relate to the challenges it portrays, said @owaisdurrani.bsky.social and @rdglatter.bsky.social.

#MedSky #EMSky #EMedSky #IDSky

www.healio.com/news/infecti...

US reduces number of vaccines recommended for all children Federal health officials announced Monday that they were reducing the number of vaccines recommended for all children in the United States to align with the immunization schedules of other countries.A...

Gostin noted that it is up to individual states to set vaccine guidance and that the CDC cannot force them to follow its schedule. Some states have already gone their own way.

🗣️ “We’ll see a checkerboard of different rules across America,” he said.

www.healio.com/news/infecti...

Travelers at NJ airport may have been exposed to measles Health officials in New Jersey warned that travelers at a busy airport may have been exposed to measles.The New Jersey Department of Health said Monday that a person with an infectious case of measles...

🚨 Anyone who was in terminals B and C at Newark Liberty between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Dec. 12 may have been exposed and could develop symptoms as late as Jan. 2 — 21 days after exposure, the maximum incubation time for measles.

#IDSky #MedSky #measles

www.healio.com/news/infecti...

NIH whistleblower sues Trump administration over firing A former NIH official who was fired after filing a whistleblower complaint that alleged she was removed from her position for political reasons has sued the Trump administration in federal court, her ...

Jeanne Marrazzo, who filed a whistleblower complaint alleging she was removed from her position as NIAID director for political reasons, has sued the Trump administration in federal court.

Details, including a rundown of the lawsuit's chances from Lawrence Gostin 👇🏻

www.healio.com/news/infecti...

Scratch that. The FDA has approved 2️⃣ new treatments for gonorrhea.

www.healio.com/news/infecti...

FDA approves first new gonorrhea treatment in decades For the first time in nearly 40 years, the FDA approved a new antibiotic to treat gonorrhea, an STI that has grown increasingly resistant to existing therapies, emerging as a major global public healt...

✅ For the first time in nearly 40 years, the FDA approved a new antibiotic to treat #gonorrhea, an STI that has grown increasingly resistant to existing therapies, emerging as a major global public health threat.

www.healio.com/news/infecti...

WHO: Drug-resistant gonorrhea surging globally New surveillance data from WHO warn of a concerning trend — drug-resistant gonorrhea, which has been a public health concern for years, is surging. Data reported by 12 countries to WHO’s Enhanced Gono...

🌍 #Gonorrhea is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics globally, including to the last treatment recommended in the US.

We spoke with Ismaël Maatouk, MD, PhD, MPH, about the new @who.int report and what's coming through the pipeline.

#IDSky #MedSky #AMR

www.healio.com/news/infecti...

Survey: Social media on par with CDC as trusted vaccine source Fewer people have gotten vaccinated against respiratory illnesses this season vs. last, according to survey data presented by experts this week, with many respondents citing unclear guidance as a reas...

A survey found that social media was on par with the CDC as trusted source of vaccine information among some adults, far below health care providers.

"Jaw dropping." - Rochelle P. Walenksy, MD, MPH

#IDSky #MedSky @nfidvaccines.bsky.social

www.healio.com/news/infecti...

CDC panel says hepatitis B vaccine not necessary for all newborns CDC vaccine advisors voted Friday to overturn a federal recommendation that says all newborns should be vaccinated against hepatitis B virus despite pleas from experts not to change a policy they say ...

The ACIP voted Friday to overturn a federal recommendation that says all newborns should be vaccinated against hepatitis B virus despite pleas from experts not to change a policy they say has saved thousands of lives.

This story will be updated throughout the day. 👇🏻

www.healio.com/news/infecti...

CDC panel eyes more changes to child vaccine schedule The CDC’s vaccine advisors, led by a newly named chair, will discuss making more changes to the childhood vaccine schedule during a 2-day meeting that starts on Thursday. The meeting was scheduled to ...

The CDC’s vaccine advisors will discuss making more changes to the childhood vaccine schedule during a 2-day meeting that starts Thursday.

The agenda is light on details, but the implications are heavy for childhood immunization.

Our preview 👇🏻

#IDSky #MedSky #ACIP

www.healio.com/news/infecti...

‘A time of urgency’: Crisis in the antibacterial pipeline A recent WHO report outlined concerning changes in the antibacterial pipeline — namely, that the pipeline is shrinking and unlikely to meet global needs.“As a clinician and educator, the 2...

A recent WHO report outlined concerning changes in the antibacterial pipeline — namely, that it is shrinking and unlikely to meet global needs.

We checked in with some experts to get their feedback. 👇🏻

#IDSky #MedSky @drjrmarcelin.bsky.social @koutterson.bsky.social

www.healio.com/news/infecti...