International Journal of Infectious Diseases

The rapid diagnosis of Campylobacter infections is important for the management of infectious gastroenteritis. Although stool culture is considered the gold standard, its sensitivity is limited and it requires prolonged incubation times. We performed a prospective multicenter study at nine healthcare facilities in Japan to evaluate a Campylobacter rapid antigen test using stool specimens between March 2024 and August 2025. Patients with suspected infectious gastroenteritis were consecutively enr...

BackgroundRespiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of lower respiratory tract infections in children, often leading to hospitalisation in infants. In low-resource settings where routine RSV diagnostics are unavailable, clinical overlap with bacterial pneumonia frequently results in unnecessary antibiotic use, contributing to antimicrobial resistance. ObjectiveTo evaluate the frequency and clinical determinants of antibiotic use among RSV-positive children under two years at a tertiary...

From 2021 to 2025, MRSA emerged as a major multidrug-resistant pathogen in the study area. Among 545 S. aureus isolates, 67.2% were MRSA, disproportionately affecting children under five (26.5%) and males (55.5%). Case incidence more than doubled by 2025, suggesting rising transmission or resistance. Most isolates were hospital-associated (85.2%), predominantly from outpatients (88.5%), with middle ear discharge as the main source (67%). Gentamicin showed the highest susceptibility (72.1%), whil...

The emergence of vaccine covered serotypes causing invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) is a serious concern worldwide. We investigated the unexpected rise of serotype 4 causing IPD primarily in non-vaccinated young adults after the COVID-19 pandemic that further spread to adults [≥] 65 years in recent years. For this purpose, we conducted a retrospective study of serotype 4 IPD cases (n=827) reported in Spain between 2009 and 2024. Whole-genome sequencing was performed to assess clonal lineag...

Background: Schistosoma mansoni is a leading cause of hepatosplenic disease in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, associations with current Schistosoma mansoni infections and hepatosplenic organometry remain unclear in the context of widespread mass drug administration and co-endemic infections. Methods: From January to February 2024, we conducted a community-based, cross-sectional study nested within the SchistoTrack cohort in three districts of Uganda. Liver and spleen dimensions were assessed via point...

BackgroundBoth hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and scrub typhus (ST) are acute zoonotic infectious diseases. There is an overlap in their epidemiological characteristics and clinical manifestations, posing challenges for early differential diagnosis. This study aims to identify predictive factors for these two diseases to provide a basis for early diagnosis. Method/FindingsA retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of patients diagnosed with HFRS and ST at the Firs...

BackgroundCambodia has made great progress in reducing malaria transmission and is targeting elimination. While this progress is particularly marked for Plasmodium falciparum, the situation is different for Plasmodium vivax. It is generally assumed that symptomatic patients are effectively diagnosed using rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs), regardless of transmission intensity. MethodsIn 2023 we conducted a cross-sectional survey among 986 treatment-seeking patients in 6 provinces of Cambodia with v...

BackgroundThe widespread insecticide resistance increasingly threatens malaria elimination, prompting a reassessment of vector control strategies. As Tanzania transitions from standard pyrethroid-only insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) to new-generation nets, evaluating the impact of this shift on malaria transmission and resistance is critical. MethodsUsing the agent-based malaria model, EMOD, we assessed the impact of three ITN types, standard pyrethroid-only nets, pyrethroid-PBO nets (Olyset(R)...

Amatoxin-induced acute liver failure complicates misidentified foraged mushroom ingestion worldwide; abrupt multisystem collapse punctuates apparent improvement. Our prospective single-arm clinical trial investigated proactive toxicokinetic-based management to preserve elimination capacity: sustained enhanced hydration to maintain renal clearance; fasting plus octreotide to suppress meal-driven enterohepatic circulation; and intravenous silibinin to inhibit OATP1B3-mediated hepatic uptake, enabl...

Strengthening in-country sequencing capacity generated 28 Lassa virus genomes from human clinical cases, expanding our knowledge of Lassa fever in Guinea. Phylogeographic analysis revealed cross-border exchange between Liberia and the NZerekore region, and a Sierra Leone introduction into the Gueckedou area. Enhanced genomic surveillance is crucial to guide future public health actions.

Background and aimsPopulation screening for liver disease in high-risk groups is recommended. Community diagnosis of liver disease is a challenge due to the asymptomatic nature of disease until very advanced stages. Moreover, regional variation in testing availability can result in people with clinically significant liver disease being missed. Machine learning (ML) has been proposed as a method to reduce diagnostic error and automate screening. We present a novel machine learning derived algorit...

Sepsis caused by drug-resistant pathogens remains a major contributor to under-five mortality in low- and middle-income countries, threatening progress toward Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.2. Blood culture, the gold standard for sepsis diagnosis and antimicrobial stewardship, remains underutilised in routine pediatric care. This study assessed the extent and determinants of blood culture utilisation among hospitalised children under five years with suspected sepsis at four antimicrobial r...

With significant population fractions in many societies who refuse vaccines, it is important to reconsider how vaccination is incorporated into compartmental epidemiology models. It is still most common to apply the vaccination rate to the entire class of susceptibles, rather than to use the more realistic assumption that the vaccination rate function should depend only on the population of susceptibles who are willing and able to receive a vaccination. This study uses a simple generic disease m...

BackgroundStroke is a leading cause of mortality and disability globally. However, information about stroke burden in the Philippines is limited. We sought to analyze stroke burden in the Philippines from 1990 to 2023. MethodsIncidence, prevalence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) estimates from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023 data were used as indicators to analyze the burden of stroke by sex and age. Temporal trends in both crude and age-standardized rates were an...

Serological surveillance is fundamental to infectious disease research and informed public-health decision making. Immunoassays used in the study of pathogen-specific immunity have historically relied on the collection of venous blood. While critical for many public-health applications, this sample collection method is invasive and resource intensive. The costs and logistical barriers associated with venous blood collection are exacerbated in resource-limited regions, and the shift to less invas...

We introduce PerTexP (Pertussis Time Exploration), an interactive modelling tool designed to investigate pertussis transmission dynamics and to support the evaluation of vaccination strategies and short-term projections. PerTexP allows users to explore and compare maternal, infant, and non-infant booster vaccination scenarios and to assess their potential impact on disease transmission, with a particular focus on the Italian epidemiological context. The tool is based on a discrete-time, stage-st...

BackgroundHeartland virus (HRTV) is an emerging tick-borne virus capable of causing severe illness and death. The burden of disease is likely underestimated due to limited seroprevalence studies, lack of commercially available diagnostic tests, and an overlapping clinical syndrome with more commonly diagnosed bacterial diseases such as spotted fever group rickettsiosis or ehrlichiosis. MethodsActive surveillance for Heartland virus disease was conducted at a large academic center from March to ...

BackgroundElimination of Plasmodium vivax is challenging due to its dormant liver stages (hypnozoites), which can reactivate weeks or months after the primary infection, causing relapses and ongoing transmission of the parasite. Despite these challenges, P. vivax clinical case numbers have declined over the past decade in Cambodia. We used parasite genotyping to assess whether the decline in case numbers was reflected in parasite diversity and relatedness as a proxy to transmission. MethodsGeno...

Understanding host susceptibility to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is critical for the development of new vaccines. Certain individuals "resist" becoming infected with Mtb despite intensive exposure; however, it is unknown whether there is a genetic basis for "resistance" to Mtb infection across populations. Here we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of resistance to Mtb infection by carefully characterizing exposure to TB patients among 4,058 close contacts in India, Brazil, an...

BackgroundCandidemia is a rare but life-threatening bloodstream infection that remains difficult to predict using conventional risk stratification approaches, highlighting the need for improved predictive strategies. As a result, empiric antifungal therapy is often delayed even in high-risk patients. MethodsWe developed a deep learning model (PyTorch_EHR) to predict 7-day candidemia risk by using electronic health record data from two large cohorts (Houston Methodist Hospital System [HMHS] and ...