Mitchell Dumais, MD

A ‘tropical’ disease is spreading in American wildlife This neglected tropical disease is no longer confined to the tropics. It’s here, in the United States, spreading silently in wildlife.

"But the popular idea that this disease only affects immigrants or travelers is dangerously outdated."

www.statnews.com/2025/08/08/c...

Day care measles exposure forces Iowa family to take weeks off work for baby: 'It only takes one' There have been at least 1,309 confirmed cases of measles in the U.S. this year. Hundreds or thousands of other families have most likely had their lives upended after being exposed.

Measles is horrible. It has already impacted thousands of young kids. This will only grow as vaccines become less accessible.

And when measles is joined by epidemics of rubella, mumps, and polio, we will see children suffer and die at national scale.

www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

🚨 IDSA has released the first guidelines for the management and treatment of complicated urinary tract infections (cUTIs)!

The new guidelines simplify the prior definitions of uncomplicated UTIs and cUTIs, & address treatment for cUTIs.

View guidelines: bit.ly/4lUjN1a

A very personal decision to donate, but such an amazing gift!

Text reads 'Over 1.3 million people acquired HIV in 2024. That's 1.3 million more people needing lifelong treatment. A new long-acting prevention option offers hope to tackle this.' Light green background with illustration of a crowd of people and a red ribbon.

Text reads 'Lenacapavir (LEN) is a new drug to protect people at risk of HIV. WHO recommends LEN as an additional PrEP option for HIV prevention.' Light green background with illustration of a medicine bottle and a red ribbon.

Text reads 'Lenacapavir is the first twice-yearly injectable form of PrEP.' Below the text reads - Only 2 doses per year - Highly effective & long-acting - An alternative to daily pills - Designed to be discreet and convenient. Helps fight stigma' Light green background with illustration of a red ribbon.

Text reads 'Diverse HIV prevention options mean more ways for you to take control of your health.' Light green background with illustration of a small group of people smiling and a red ribbon.

⚠️ 1.3 million people acquired HIV in 2024 alone, including thousands of adolescent girls and young women.

Today, in a landmark move towards HIV prevention, WHO recommends twice-yearly injectable lenacapavir as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to protect people at risk of HIV.

🔗 bit.ly/4lWtzjA

Lyssavirus is rare, but deadly. What should you do if a bat bites you? A man in Australia has died after being infected with bat lyssavirus. Here’s what to know about this infection.

What to do if you are bitten by a Bat?
- copiously wash bite wound with soap and water for at least 15 minutes.
- apply and antiseptic like betadine
- seek medical care urgently- you will like be offered rabies post exposure prophylaxis including vaccination.

bit.ly/3GBBsvy

Peekaboo

Expansion of tetM-Carrying Neisseria gonorrhoeae in the United States, 2018–2024 | NEJM During 2018–2024, the percentage of N. gonorrhoeae isolates carrying tetM, which confers tetracycline resistance, increased from less than 10% to more than 30% across the United States.

Doxycycline-resistant gonorrhea (tetM) is on the rise:
- Over 14,000 isolates from CDC, 2018 - 2024
- Mean estimated resistance percentage rose from <10% (2020) to >30% (2024)
- Increase in all HHS regions (though largest in Pacific Northwest)

www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

I will now be solemnly saying "Ah, the Mummy's Curse" for all Aspergillus flavus isolates at Micro Rounds.

Do you know your HIV status?
Do you know the HIV status of your sexual partner(s)?
Get tested today. All it takes is a few minutes.
If your test is positive, enroll in a Ryan white clinic and get treated - the meds work great.
If your test is negative, consider PrEP to keep it that way.

This is by far the most common vaccine I strongly recommend in ID adult clinical practice. As ID doctors, we see some truly severe cases of zoster, with post-zoster sequelae that may last months or even rarely be permanent. #IDSky doi.org/10.1093/cid/...

Novel bacteria-specific PET imaging approach detects hard-to-diagnose lung infections A new PET imaging technique can accurately detect and monitor Mycobacteroides abscessus lung infections&mdash;one of the most difficult-to-diagnose conditions in patients with lung diseases. This inno...

Differentiating inflammation from infection and culturing nontuberculous mycobacteria notoriously difficult

PET tracer 11C-PABA accumulates in live M. abscessus, enabling direct visualization in lung tissue

Data in mouse models and a CF patient show great promise for precision diagnostics

💪 work

This is what we were waiting for. A direct comparison between apixaban and rivaroxaban for the treatment of acute VTE. Apixaban reduces bleeding risk in the first 3 months by >50%!

Practice changing investigator-initiated RCT.

#ISTH2025

Glucocorticoid Dosing and Implications for Vaccination: Evolution of Global Definitions

In CID, Xia Wang and colleagues reviewed existing literature to examine the impact of glucocorticoid therapy on vaccination response and safety.

Cellular and genetic therapies are soon to be in the limelight, with amazing possibilities!

Great opportunities for autoimmune diseases, genetic diseases, and even infectious disease.

“It’s hard to overstate the importance of this for global public health,” O’Day said, adding that the injection “really will bend the arc of the epidemic as we roll this out across the globe.”

But the magnitude of its impact will also depend on how easy it is to get"

ID wishlist:
- *This patient is currently taking prednisone* next to the WBC
- UA/culture results released only after a survey if the patient is experiencing symptoms
- fun GIFs while I review terrifying resistance patterns to boost morale

😬

Powerful new tool against Malaria (𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦)

Instead of killing mosquitoes, bed nets coated with ELQs (endochin-like quinolones) KILL THE MALARIA PARASITES INSIDE THE INSECTS. Infected mosquitoes land, absorb the drug through their legs, and are rendered parasite-free

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

"...this approach will not only enable scientists to produce gene-editing treatments much more quickly but also far less expensively."

"... it was part of a research project that was supported by the National Institutes of Health."

Investing in Science = Investing in Humanity

#RSV rates in infants are falling. Hospitalizations are down 28 % and 43 % for infants less than 7 months in two different networks, as reported in this week's MMWR.

This is real world evidence that maternal immunization and MAbs are protecting this vulnerable populations - #MedSky.

Antiretroviral Postexposure Prophylaxis After Sexual ... CDC updates HIV nonoccupational postexposure ...

Bictegravir (BIC)/FTC/TAF makes a first-line appearance in the updated guidelines for PEP!

www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes...

Another issue is the AI tool simply copying erroneous notes or errors (which happens enough already). But when it comes from a tool, providers may be less likely to scrutinize and look at the reports themselves.

105 controlled vaccine trials.
110 yrs. 1.8 M participants.
All in one live, crowd-sourced sheet.

Built by contributors worldwide to counter the myth that vaccines weren’t tested with controls.

Quiet work still breaks through the noise.
www.bradspellberg.com/vaccine-rcts
@bradspellberg.bsky.social

I think the most surprising thing about training in ID is how **broad** the consult requests are.

Fever? Call ID. Elevated WBC? Get ID on board. Recent travel and just don't "seem right?" Touch base with ID.

Even more surprising is how often we find after asking the right questions.

No matter how bad you imagine smallpox was, it was worse than that.

Personalized inhaled bacteriophage therapy for treatment of multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis - Nature Medicine A novel personalized phage therapy strategy that selects phages for a predicted evolutionary trade-off may represent a viable alternative approach for the treatment of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria...

New 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘔𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘦 🦠

Personalized Nebulized Bacteriophage Therapy for MDR 𝘗𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘥𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘴 Infections in Cystic Fibrosis

In 9 patients, 10²–10⁴ CFU/mL drop in sputum bacteria, 6% median gain in FEV1

Post-treatment isolates showed trade-offs—reduced virulence, increased antibiotic susceptibility

The Human Genome Project cost taxpayers $3 Billion.

Two decades on, it has generated a staggering return on investment of $1 Trillion, with benefits in medicine, agriculture, energy, the environment, & more.

If you want to boost the economy, funding science is one of the best things you could do.

I like *one* bunny photo and now every morning I am greeted by bunnies

*Monet