“While the risk is still low to the general public, we are seeing a virus with a high fatality rate transmitting person-to-person,” said Milton, whose research has shown how viruses such as COVID and the flu are transmitted in exhaled breath and has demonstrated the efficacy of masks for prevention.

“WHO should change its default response – the starting point should not be to downplay the risk of airborne transmission until it is definitively proven. ”

Milton worked with a group of international experts: Trisha Greenhalg at University of Oxford, David N. Fisman at University of Toronto, Amanda Kvalsvig at University of Otago, Lidia Morawska at Queensland University of Technology and Jonathan M. Samet at Colorado School of Public Health.

The group writes: “The starting point should be the immediate adoption of precautionary measures to reduce airborne transmission, such as respirator use by healthcare workers, [infected people] and their close contacts.” They also recommend WHO include guidelines on improving ventilation, avoiding unfiltered air recirculation and use of portable HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) filtration in all enclosed quarantine and transport settings.”

The group also provided more detail to the BMJ article in this substack.

The researchers who performed the analysis included Maimuna Majumder, PhD, MPH, the Inaugural Peter Szolovits Distinguished Scholar in the Computational Health Informatics Program at Boston Children’s, and their postdoctoral research fellow Anne Bischops, MD, a pediatrician and German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina Fellow. The team evaluated the number of U.S. measles cases, outbreaks, their origination, and the levels of transmission. Their results suggest that measles is making a comeback in the US, spreading continuously for more than a year.

The latest string of U.S. outbreaks began in Texas in January 2025. Since then, outbreaks have spread to 45 states. When the U.S. was last recertified for measles elimination status in 2011, the country achieved all the measles elimination indicators established by the CDC’s National Immunization Program. But this year, according to this new research, most of the indicators are in the red.

Missed indicators of measles elimination status:

• Low number of cases with a cutoff of less than one case per 10 million people. As of early 2026, the U.S. had about 93 cases per 10 million people, exceeding this limit.
• Most of the measles cases should come from abroad rather than from internal spread. Since the start of 2025, only 6-7 percent of the measles cases came from abroad, meaning most cases derive from within the U.S.
• A limited number of outbreaks (a cutoff of approximately four) with no more than about six cases each. Last year in the U.S., 48 outbreaks resulted in more than 2,000 cases. And in early 2026, at least 19 outbreaks already resulted in more than 1,600 cases.
• A level of transmission less than one, meaning one infected person only spreads measles to fewer than one other person on average. The U.S. exceeded this rate more than 75 percent of the time since early 2025.

Indicators at risk:

• The country achieves four weeks with  all infections deriving from outside the U.S. Since the first infection in January 2025, the U.S. hasn’t gone four weeks without infections with 90% of cases acquired here.
• Herd immunity through vaccination. An estimated 95 percent of people need to receive two-doses of the measles vaccine to achieve herd immunity, typically given as part of the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine. However, the U.S. average vaccination rate of kindergartners in the 2024-2025 school year was 92 percent, meaning this indicator is at high risk. In Texas for example, vaccine rates range as low as 79 to 90 percent, according to an earlier study from the team.
• Measles cases don’t share a common viral strain. From ongoing genetic analyses, preliminary data show that the majority of cases share the same viral strain and are likely part of the same transmission chain.

“Declining vaccination rates have already been a warning sign that measles could return,” said Bischops. “However, losing status would be a clear and very concerning indicator.”

The researchers believe these findings make a strong case for vaccinating children to protect them from a young age.

“Viral infections aren’t all benign and a measles infection even when cleared can result in lifelong problems,” said Majumder. “Babies less than a year old are among those at greatest risk for severe complications, and the full impact on children exposed during the current outbreak may only show up years later.”

This data aims to provide insights/an early warning framework ahead of a meeting of the Pan American Health Organization’s expert panel in November 2026 to reevaluate the U.S.’s measles elimination status.

Research letters published in the Correspondence section include research findings and are externally peer-reviewed. Unlike Articles containing original data, research letters are shorter and the research they contain is usually preliminary, exploratory, or reporting on early findings.

Written by Vanessa McMains, PhD

The paper, “Economic evaluation of delaying the infant hepatitis B vaccination schedule,” is under embargo until 11am EST on April 27, 2026 in JAMA Pediatrics.

The longer the delay, the study found, the higher the cost in human life and health care, with costs ranging from $16 million to $370 million depending on the age at first vaccination and adherence to vaccination schedules.

Chronic hepatitis B is a leading cause of cirrhosis, liver failure, liver cancer and death, affecting 2.4 million people in the United States. Newborns have the highest risk: 90% of newborns who contract hepatitis B virus (HBV) will develop chronic infections and 25% will die prematurely from cirrhosis or liver cancer.

“Preventing HBV transmission at birth is a cornerstone of hepatitis B elimination efforts,” said Noele Nelson, professor of practice in the Department of Public and Ecosystem Health, the senior author of the study.

In December 2025, the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted to delay the first dose of HBV vaccine for infants whose birth parent tests negative for the virus – a reversal of a 2018 recommendation to administer the vaccine to all infants within 24 hours of birth.

In this study, Nelson and her team used probabilistic models built on published scientific data about hepatitis B vaccine efficacy, transmission rates and disease progression to estimate the number of infections and health care costs various vaccine scenarios would incur.

Nelson compared models where vaccination is given at birth or delayed to age 2 months, 7 months, 4 years or 12 years, in children of HBV-negative birth parents, unknown birth parent infection status or both. Their models also consider cases where all children received all three recommended doses, or incomplete vaccination.

All projections showed that, in unvaccinated groups, more individuals progressed to chronic infection or serious complications like cirrhosis and liver cancer. This effect was amplified in scenarios where children do not receive all three doses as prescribed.

“Importantly, our study underestimates the costs and health outcomes associated with delays to administering the hepatitis B vaccine birth dose,” Nelson said. “Our model assumptions were conservative. For example, we didn’t include the increasing risk of getting HBV infection from members of their household or community, which could happen if the number of people with HBV infection increases.”

The latest ACIP recommendation was, in part, based on low HBV infections. Nelson argues that the low incidence of HBV infection in the United States is a direct result of the successful vaccination programs.

“Multiple studies have shown that the later children receive their first hepatitis B vaccination, the lower the probability they will complete their routine vaccination course,” Nelson said. “This policy may reverse this progress towards hepatitis B elimination.”

The recent ACIP decision also cited concerns about the safety of the hepatitis B vaccine and speculation that harms might outweigh the benefits of vaccination. Reviewing four decades of studies, including recent comprehensive safety reviews, Nelson did not find any evidence of serious adverse reactions such as seizures, other neurological disorders, infections or mortality.

“We found that over 35 years of data demonstrate long-term immunogenicity and likely lifetime protection from hepatitis B vaccines,” Nelson said. “We don’t find any advantage in delaying the first dose of this vaccine, and our findings favor maintaining a policy of universal hepatitis B vaccination at birth.”

Additional authors include Eric W. Hall of Oregon Health & Science University; Prabhu Gounder of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health; and Heather Bradley of Emory University.

Through statistical analyses of information from the Centers for Disease Control, as well as pharmaceutical industry sales data, investigators found that US states with higher AIDS prevalence experienced significantly larger increases in syphilis after highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) became widely available—with these increases concentrated among men, while rates among women continued to decline—suggesting that changes in sexual behavior following the reduced perceived risk of HIV had broader public health effects.

Data indicated that in the absence of HAART, there would have been 81% fewer syphilis cases between 1996 and 2008.

“With syphilis now at a 60‐year high, these findings offer timely insight into how life‐saving innovations can reshape population behavior and highlight the need for complementary public‐health strategies,” said corresponding author David Beheshti, PhD, of the University of Texas at San Antonio.

URL upon publication: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hec.70100

Researchers found that initially DAA treatment was concentrated among older adults and those with Medicare or commercial insurance, but over time, treatment has shifted toward younger patients and Medicaid beneficiaries. Specialist prescribing peaked in 2015 and then declined through 2025.

“Treatment levels being too low may help explain why hepatitis C prevalence hasn’t fallen (and may have even increased) in recent years,” said senior author Benjamin Rome, MD, MPH, a faculty member in the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics in the Mass General Brigham Department of Medicine. “Elimination will require system-level changes, not just better screening.”

“Hepatitis C is a curable disease, but current treatment levels are substantially below what’s needed to achieve national elimination targets,” said lead author Sanjay Kishore, MD, a faculty member at the University of Viriginia School of Medicine and a former resident at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system.

Authorship: In addition to Kishore and Rome, co-authors include Margaret Hayden, Micah Johnson, and Aaron S. Kesselheim.

Disclosures: Kishore and Hayden reported consulting for the Equal Justice Initiative. Kishore, Hayden, and Johnson reported being unpaid cofounders of EqualCure. Kesselheim reported serving as an expert witness in cases against Gilead, Johnson & Johnson, generic manufacturers, and pharmacy benefits managers and serving as a consultant for Alosa Health. Rome reported receiving grants from Humana, Elevance Health Public Policy Institute, and PCMA Foundation and personal fees from Alosa Health.

Funding: Kesselheim and Rome were supported by a grant from Arnold Venture.

Paper cited: Kishore S et al. “National Prescribing Trends of Direct-Acting Antivirals for Hepatitis C” JAMA DOI: 10.1001/jama.2026.3328

Catching influenza increases the short-term risk of cardiovascular conditions, and existing evidence has shown that the vaccine reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke by preventing flu infection in the first place. The new study, which included 1,221 adults aged 40 or older in Denmark, looked at whether cardiovascular risk was reduced even if people were infected with flu despite being vaccinated.

‘If confirmed by additional studies in other settings, this would strengthen the case for prioritising influenza vaccination among people at risk of heart disease or stroke and would support refining recommendations across Europe,’ says Dr Roberto Croci, Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen.

The study used Danish health registry data from 2014 to 2025 and included individuals aged 40 and above with a first-ever hospital admission for a heart attack or stroke within a year after an influenza virus infection. It included all lab-confirmed flu virus infections that occurred during nine consecutive influenza seasons.

The study population comprised 660 males and 561 females aged 40 years and above, with a median age of 75. Most patients were hospitalised with a stroke (65%), while 35% had a heart attack.

The risk of a first-time hospitalisation for heart attack and stroke during the first week after testing positive for influenza was found to be significantly higher than for any other period before or after; it increased threefold for a stroke and fivefold for a heart attack. This increased risk was reduced by half for people who were infected but had been vaccinated against influenza for that influenza season.

The study did not account for differences in effectiveness between influenza vaccines, which can vary depending on how well the vaccine formulation matches the viral strains circulating in that season. It could also not assess whether vaccination timing or gender affected outcomes.

However, the results add to the growing importance of protecting against infectious diseases in people at risk of cardiovascular events. ‘Highlighting the dual protection offered by vaccination, against both infection and its cardiovascular complications, could have a substantial public health impact,’ the authors said.

Factoring the vaccine’s added protection against these conditions into economic and burden analysis could also help make a stronger economic case for influenza vaccination programmes.

Every year, EMA issues EU recommendations for the composition of seasonal influenza vaccines on the basis of observations by the World Health Organization (WHO), which are informed by regular monitoring activities on the prevalence and characteristics of different influenza viruses worldwide.

Manufacturers of live-attenuated vaccines or egg-based vaccines should include these three virus strains for the 2026/2027 season:

• an A/Missouri/11/2025 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus;
• an A/Darwin/1454/2025 (H3N2)-like virus;
• a B/Tokyo/EIS13-175/2025 (B/Victoria lineage)-like virus.

Manufacturers of cell-based vaccines should include these three virus strains for the 2026/2027 season:

• an A/Missouri/11/2025 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus;
• an A/Darwin/1415/2025 (H3N2)-like virus;
• a B/Pennsylvania/14/2025 (B/Victoria lineage)-like virus.

Previously, most authorised influenza vaccines were formulated to protect against the four main strains of influenza responsible for seasonal flu, including the strain known as B/Yamagata.

However, since B/Yamagata has not been detected in circulation since March 2020, it is considered to no longer pose a threat to public health. As a result, there is no EU recommendation for a B/Yamagata strain in seasonal influenza vaccines for the 2026/2027 influenza season, which is in line with the respective WHO recommendation regarding the composition of vaccines for 2026/2027.
In case quadrivalent vaccines are still required (e.g. in regions where the transition to trivalent vaccines has not been finalised yet), vaccine manufacturers of inactivated vaccines can consider producing a quadrivalent vaccine containing two influenza B virus strains for the 2026/2027 season. For these vaccines it is proposed to follow WHO recommendations from previous years for the B/Yamagata strain, i.e. a B/Phuket/3073/2013 (B/Yamagata lineage)-like virus.

Influenza viruses continuously change and evolve. The periodic replacement of the virus strains contained in influenza vaccines is therefore necessary to keep the vaccines effective.

Persistent inequalities remain a major barrier to achieving universal protection against life-threatening infections – reflecting findings from the UK Heath Security Agency National Immunisation Programme Health Equity Audit 2025.

The findings from an interdisciplinary research team including data scientists, infectious disease epidemiologists and physicians from the University of Liverpool are published today (1 April 2026) in the journal The Lancet Regional Health – Europe. 

By performing a data analysis, researchers from the Institute of Population Health and the Institute of Infection, Veterinary & Ecological Sciences at the University of Liverpool have examined the trends in timely vaccine uptake before and after England changed its PCV dose schedule in  January 2020 – transitioning from a “2+1” PCV schedule (two primary doses at 8 and 16 weeks, with a booster dose at 12 months) to a “1+1” PCV schedule (single primary dose at 12 weeks and a booster dose at 12 months).

In a longitudinal study, the researchers analysed Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) uptake data from 2013-2025 for children aged 1 and 2 years from the Cover of Vaccination Evaluated Rapidly (COVER) programme. COVER collects quarterly and annual data on childhood immunisation coverage in England for children at 1, 2 and 5 years of age.

Looking at pattens for upper-tier local authorities in England linked to 2019 Index of Multiple Deprivation quintiles, the study found that PCV booster retention has dropped in England since the schedule change, which coincided with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This deterioration disproportionately affected children in more deprived areas, risking avoidable disease burden concentrated in the most disadvantaged communities and widening health inequalities. The findings agree with evidence from a BMJ article by the wider research team and the UK Heath Security Agency National Immunisation Programme Health Equity Audit 2025, reporting immunisation inequity in England is not only persistent but it is worsening in critical areas.

The number of required clinic visits may be insufficient to overcome the systemic barriers to vaccination faced by marginalised communities. Immunisation system strengthening, targeted, equity-focused interventions and enhanced call-recall systems for post-infant vaccine delivery could help address the identified PCV coverage gaps. These outputs are timely as the House of Lords – Childhood Vaccinations Committee is holding an inquiry to examine childhood vaccination coverage in England, why there has been a gradual decline in coverage over the past decade and what the Government should do to reverse this decline and reduce inequalities in childhood vaccination coverage.

Dr Edward Hill from the University of Liverpool is the corresponding author on the paper. He said: “National averages and patterns can often mask local vulnerabilities. This research highlights the importance of using granular data to identify exactly which groups are falling behind in intervention uptake. Public health interventions can then be more precisely targeted.”

Lead author Praise Ilechukwu from the University of Liverpool commented: “Our study shows that while the UK’s move to a 1+1 schedule was evidence-based and efficient, we are still seeing a consistent lag in protection for children in deprived areas. These deprivation-associated inequalities in pneumococcal vaccine coverage in children leaves children in deprived areas more vulnerable to pneumococcal diseases like pneumonia and meningitis.”

Co-author Professor Neil French from the University of Liverpool commented: “Addressing the PCV booster retention issues can be aided by establishing routine monitoring of booster gaps as a key performance indicator for the vaccination programme. This should include regular reporting by deprivation and place to enable early identification of emerging problems.”

Co-author Dr Dan Hungerford from the University of Liverpool commented: “Inequalities persist even with fewer required vaccination appointments for PCV. We need to look at the wider social determinates of inequalities in child health and structural access factors—like flexible vaccination access points and tailored community outreach—to ensure every child is protected regardless of their background.”

The research, published today in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe, was supported by the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections.

The paper Inequalities in childhood pneumococcal conjugate vaccine uptake in England before and after the change from a 2+1 to 1+1 schedule: a longitudinal study is available here: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanepe/article/PIIS2666-7762(26)00079-7/fulltext

“Patients taking fluvoxamine reported steadily improving fatigue and quality-of-life scores over 60 to 90 days, with fewer side effects than those on placebo, they said.

The findings were published on March 30,2026 in Annals of Internal Medicine.

The investigators enrolled 399 adults with fatigue persisting 90 or more days following a confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The trial was conducted in 22 outpatient medical sites in Brazil between October 2023 and February 2025.

The subjects were randomized to 60-day treatment with fluvoxamine (100 mg twice daily), metformin (750 mg twice daily) or matching placebo.

The study excluded people with diabetes, stroke, Lyme disease or other COVID-19 complications. It also excluded people identified as substance abusers, those with uncontrolled psychiatric conditions and those already being treated with fluvoxamine or metformin.

The primary outcome was the change between baseline and 60-day scores on the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), a 9-item self-reported measure of fatigue severity, with higher scores indicating worse fatigue.

The investigators reported that, at day 60, fluvoxamine subjects had achieved a significant reduction in fatigue compared with placebo subjects. And the effect was sustained at day 90.

Fluvoxamine treatment also improved quality-of-life scores, while metformin treatment showed no such benefit.

They reported that adverse events were less frequent with fluvoxamine (20.0%) than with metformin (28.8%) or placebo (29.7%).

The authors concluded, “This study supports the potential benefit of fluvoxamine in people with long COVID and fatigue lasting at least 90 days after acute COVID-19.”

In a large, randomized trial, researchers at Mass General Brigham have found that high-dose vitamin D3 did not reduce COVID-19 infection severity, but may impact long COVID outcomes. Results of the study are published in The Journal of Nutrition.

“There’s been tremendous interest in whether vitamin D supplements can be of benefit in COVID, and this is one of the largest and most rigorous randomized trials on the subject,” said senior author JoAnn Manson, MD, DrPH, of the Mass General Brigham Department of Medicine. “While we didn’t find that high-dose vitamin D reduced COVID severity or hospitalizations, we observed a promising signal for long COVID that merits additional research.”

Vitamin D has been hypothesized to boost immune health, but clinical evidence in the context of COVID-19 has been mixed. The Vitamin D for COVID-19 (VIVID) Trial aimed to provide clarity by rigorously evaluating high-dose vitamin D3 supplementation among newly diagnosed COVID-19 patients and their household contacts. Across the United States and Mongolia, 1,747 adults who had recently tested positive for COVID-19 and 277 household contacts were randomized to receive either daily vitamin D3 (9,600 IU/day for two days followed by 3,200 IU/day) or daily placebo for four weeks. The U.S. trial was conducted from December 2020 to September 2022 while the Mongolia trial ran from September 2021 to April 2022. The median time between the participants’ positive COVID-19 tests and the initiation of vitamin D supplementation or placebo was three days.

Alongside Manson, lead authors Davaasambuu Ganmaa, Kaitlyn Cook and team used stratified randomization and statistical weighting to ensure factors that can affect COVID-19 outcomes (including age, sex, body mass index, race/ethnicity and COVID-19 vaccination status) were balanced between the two groups.

The rate of healthcare utilization (including hospitalizations, in-person or virtual clinic visits, and emergency visits) or death did not differ between the vitamin D and placebo groups over a four-week period. Similarly, no significant differences were found in symptom severity. Taking high-dose vitamin D also didn’t reduce the rate at which household contacts contracted COVID-19.

However, an analysis of the participants who adhered to the vitamin D regimen demonstrated a signal that they were less likely to experience long COVID symptoms at eight weeks than those who took placebo pills. In the vitamin D group, 21% reported at least one persistent symptom, compared to 25% in the placebo group, a difference of borderline statistical significance.

“Long COVID, which can include symptoms of fatigue, shortness of breath, brain fog, other cognitive challenges and more, continues to significantly impact people’s lives,” said Manson. “We hope to conduct further research in larger populations on whether long-term vitamin D supplementation reduces the risks and severity of long COVID.”

Authorship: In addition to Manson and Ganmaa, Mass General Brigham authors include Allison Clar, Michael Rueschman, Aditi Hazra, Howard D. Sesso, Valerie E. Stone, Patricia Copeland and Georgina Friedenberg. Additional authors include Cook, Polyna Khudyakov, Dorjbal Enkhjargal, Tsolmon Bilegtsaikhan, Kenneth H. Mayer, Raji Balasubramanian, Douglas C. Smith, Quanhong Lei, Todd Lee, Emily G. McDonald, Tserenkhuu Enkhtsetseg, Erdenebaatar Sumiya, Yansanjav Narankhuu, Myagmarsuren Erdenetuya, Dalkh Tserendagva, Rikard Landberg, Niclas Roxhed and Susanne Rautiainen.

Disclosures: Roxhed is a founder and shareholder of Capitainer AB, a company commercializing the blood collection devices used in this study. All other authors declare no conflicts of interests.

Funding: The study received anonymous foundation support and philanthropic support from Jon Sabes of Minneapolis, Minn. The authors also acknowledge support from the Tishcon Corporation, which donated the vitamin D and placebo study capsules; Takeda; and Capitainer cards. The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or nonprofit sectors.

Paper cited: Ganmaa, D., et al. “A Randomized Trial of Vitamin D Supplementation and COVID-19 Clinical Outcomes and Long COVID: The VIVID Trial.” The Journal of Nutrition. DOI: 10.1016/j.tjnut.2026.101398

Vaccination against COVID-19 and influenza are recommended during pregnancy by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Norway, as pregnant women and their newborns have an increased risk of severe outcomes from these diseases. For at-risk groups, the WHO recommends a vaccination target of 75% for both infections.

These findings emphasise the need for more targeted strategies and better integration of vaccinations into routine pre-natal care for pregnant women in Norway, along with comprehensive surveillance of maternal vaccination.

In Norway, the influenza vaccine is provided during the influenza season, while the COVID-19 vaccine is available year-round. Generally, both vaccines are recommended to pregnant women during the second and third trimester. Pregnant women in Norway access these vaccines through self-initiated appointments with healthcare professionals; the influenza vaccine is provided at a cost, while the COVID-19 vaccine is free.

Significant variation in coverage depending on month of delivery and timing during pregnancy

Stecher et al. looked at how many pregnant women received the influenza and COVID-19 vaccines during the 2023/24 influenza season, at what stage of pregnancy they received the vaccine, and whether uptake differed by age group or region.

A total of 53,161 women were included in the study. Researchers drew data from two Norwegian national registries, with the study population comprising all women who delivered in Norway between 1 October 2023 and 30 September 2024, as identified in the Medical Birth Registry Norway (MBRN). The records and birth data from MBRN were then linked to data from the Norwegian Immunisation Registry (SYSVAK).

Despite universal recommendations for vaccination during pregnancy, coverage in the influenza season 2023/24 was low at 29.9% and 12.1% for influenza and COVID-19, respectively, while only 11.4% of pregnant women received both vaccines.

For the influenza vaccine, 22.3% of women were vaccinated in the second or third trimester. Coverage increased from 16.4% in October to 26.4% in November, and levelled off thereafter. It was highest among women delivering in February at 50.8%, declining afterwards. Coverage for the COVID-19 vaccine followed a similar pattern to influenza, with 10.1% of women receiving the vaccine in the second or third trimester.

Low vaccination rates despite high trust in health authorities

There were considerable differences across regions and age groups, despite the population’s high level of trust in health authorities and recommendations, and the authors point to practical and psychological barriers to vaccination. The lowest uptake was among women aged 25 years or younger. Regionally, the Oslo and Vestland counties had the highest vaccination coverage, while the lowest coverage was found in Northern Norway.

Stecher et al. suggest removing financial barriers, improving accessibility, and exploring information sources on vaccines trusted by women to address hesitancy. The authors also cite international evidence supporting the integration of free vaccination into routine pre-natal care, with vaccination coverage for whooping cough among pregnant women improving when the vaccine was introduced into Norway’s maternal immunisation programme.

Similar challenges globally, including limited surveillance systems and inconsistent integration, highlight the importance of coordinated efforts to promote maternal immunisation in Europe and worldwide.

The drugs are effective but don’t eliminate the virus; HIV remains hidden in “reservoirs” throughout the body, ready to reactivate if treatment stops.

But researchers at Case Western Reserve University, in collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh, have made a significant breakthrough in HIV treatment. They’ve shown that NK (Natural Killer) cells—specialized immune cells that naturally target virus-infected and tumor cells—can be enhanced to better fight HIV infections.

Their findings were recently published in mBio, the scientific journal for the American Society of Microbiology.

“NK cell immunotherapy is already being used for cancer therapy, and the data from those studies provides a great foundation for translation of this approach to an HIV cure strategy,” said Mary Ann Checkley-Luttge, a senior research associate at the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, who led the study. “We are hoping that NK cell immunotherapy can help reduce the reservoir enough to allow long-term immunological control of HIV without ART.”

Checkley-Luttge works in the lab of Jonathan Karn, a professor at the School of Medicine and pioneer in HIV research as director of the Case Center for AIDS Research.

The research team discovered that NK cells taken from HIV-positive patients can be expanded and enhanced in the lab to more effectively target and reduce these viral reservoirs.

This discovery marks a significant step toward long-term HIV remission by enhancing the body’s immune system. The approach could enable people with HIV to control the virus without lifelong dependence on daily antiretroviral medications.

The groundwork for such a discovery was supported by Case Western Reserve’s long-standing interdisciplinary collaboration and robust HIV research infrastructure. The School of Medicine houses a National Institutes of Health-designated Center for AIDS Research founded more than 30 years ago, and the Center for Excellence on the Impact of Substance Use on HIV, providing access to cutting-edge technologies essential for high-impact HIV research.

“Our team’s next goals are to test whether lab-enhanced NK cells can work as ‘off-the-shelf’ therapy,” said Karn, Distinguished University Professor and chair of the Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology. “We plan to conduct studies using advanced animal models that closely mimic HIV infection in humans and then work toward clinical trials in the next two years to test this approach in people living with HIV.”

The research was made possible through blood donations from people living with HIV and represents a collaborative effort between patients, researchers and institutions working toward better HIV treatments.