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Journal articlePatel A, Jofre Bonet M, Hauck K, et al., 2026,
Corrigendum to 'Broadening the lens: a commentary on Sheard and Cauana-Finkel's account of women's progress in UK academic health economics' [Soc. Sci. Med. 382, October 2025, 118411].
, Soc Sci Med, Vol: 394 -
Journal articleI'Anson J, Anderson C, Arora S, et al., 2026,
Large outbreak of group B invasive meningococcal disease in young adults in South East England, March 2026.
, Euro Surveill, Vol: 31An unusually large outbreak of invasive meningococcal disease affecting young adults occurred in South East England between 13 and 18 March 2026, with 21 confirmed cases including two fatalities. Thirteen cases were university students and 19 had attended the same nightclub over a 3-day period. The outbreak strain was a distinct genome within the previously seen type B: P1.12-1,16-183: F1-5: ST-485 (cc41/44). Over 13,000 chemoprophylaxis doses and 11,000 meningococcal B vaccinations were provided to possible contacts.
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Journal articleWilliams TJ, Griffiths JS, Gonzales-Huerta LE, et al., 2026,
Selective Targeting of IL-1RAP-Dependent Eosinophilic Inflammation in Allergic Fungal Airway Disease.
, Allergy, Vol: 81, Pages: 1302-1305 -
Journal articleKhurana MP, Brünnich Sloth MM, Scheidwasser N, et al., 2026,
SARS-CoV-2 reinfections and subsequent risk of hospital-diagnosed post-acute sequelae in Denmark (2020-2022): a nationwide cohort study.
, Lancet Reg Health Eur, Vol: 63BACKGROUND: Post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC), or long COVID, are a public health concern. While most recover from SARS-CoV-2 infections within weeks, some experience persistent symptoms. Here, we quantified the association between repeated SARS-CoV-2 infections and the risk of hospital-diagnosed PASC. METHODS: We conducted a nationwide register-based cohort study of all adults in Denmark (≥18 years) with at least one SARS-CoV-2 PCR or antigen test between April 1, 2020, and December 31, 2022. Participants were followed from first test until long COVID diagnosis (ICD-10: B948A), death, emigration, three SARS-CoV-2 infections, or end of study. Risk of long COVID diagnosis was estimated at three timepoints after study entry (180 days, 1 year, 2 years) and the outcomes were assessed during the 180 days after each timepoint. Cause-specific Cox models treated death as a competing risk, with number of infections and vaccination status as time-varying covariates. Absolute risks and differences were estimated using G-computation. Analyses were stratified by sex, income, and vaccination status. Secondary analyses assessed fatigue and headache (ICD-10), excluding individuals with prior diagnoses. FINDINGS: Of 4,418,544 individuals, 6942 (0.16%) were diagnosed with long COVID. The absolute risk of a diagnosis increased following reinfection (0.73% [95% CI 0.69-0.77] after one infection vs. 1.16% [1.05-1.30] after two infections at 180 days), but differences were small and decreased over time. Risks following reinfection were similar across sex and income strata. Absolute risk decreased with prior vaccinations. Secondary analyses showed no increased risk of fatigue or headache after primary infection. A small increase in fatigue risk was observed after reinfection at 1 year (RD 0.03% [0.01-0.05]), but not for headache. INTERPRETATION: Reinfection increases long COVID risk; however, the absolute increase after reinfection is smaller than that observed after a primary inf
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Journal articleSu JS, Stover J, Pretorius C, et al., 2026,
The benefits of investments to combat HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria for primary healthcare from 2000 to 2023: An economic modeling analysis.
, PLoS Med, Vol: 23BACKGROUND: Global investments to combat HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria (HTM) have delivered substantial health gains and may have reduced the burden placed by these diseases on the routine health system. We estimated the reduction in primary healthcare (PHC) utilization resulting from the scale-up of HTM services over 2000-2023 in 108 low- and middle-income countries. METHODS AND FINDINGS: For each disease, we applied established mathematical models to quantify PHC utilization (outpatient visits and inpatient bed-days provided outside of HTM programs) by individuals with symptomatic HIV, tuberculosis, or malaria unable to access HTM-specific services. For each country, we estimated averted PHC utilization by comparing a scenario describing the actual scale-up of HTM services to a counterfactual scenario holding HTM service coverage constant at year 2000 levels. We applied published unit costs to estimate the averted costs resulting from reduced PHC utilization. Over 2000-2023, scale-up of HTM services averted an estimated 6.9 (95% uncertainty interval (UI) [4.4, 10.5]) billion outpatient PHC visits and 3.9 (95% UI [2.5, 5.9]) billion inpatient bed-days, representing US$135 (95% UI [71, 250]) billion in averted costs. These reductions were greatest in sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia and Pacific regions. Across study countries, these reductions represented a median of 4.4% of hospital bed capacity and 1.6% of government health spending in 2023. These percentages were 22.9% and 5.1%, respectively, for low-income countries. Our analysis did not consider changes in PHC services beyond utilization. Also, several inputs were missing in some countries, with missing values estimated using regression imputation. CONCLUSIONS: Over recent decades, sustained investments in HTM services in high-burden settings have averted substantial PHC utilization and associated costs. These benefits should be considered when assessing investment impact.
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Journal articleDixon-Zegeye M, Walker M, Ramani A, et al., 2026,
HISTONCHO: A dataset of intervention histories for onchocerciasis control & elimination in sub-Saharan Africa
, Scientific Data, Vol: 13, ISSN: 2052-4463In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), onchocerciasis control has been implemented for many decades, beginning in 1974 under the Onchocerciasis Control Programme in West Africa (OCP) and in 1995 in Central and East Africa (plus Liberia) under the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC). Since the establishment of the Expanded Special Project for Elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases (ESPEN) in 2016, data on mass drug administration (MDA) with ivermectin has been centrally compiled for all endemic countries at implementation unit (IU) level, beginning in 2013. This paper presents HISTONCHO, a dataset collating detailed information on interventions, including vector control, from 1975 through to 2022, using the ESPEN portal (2013–2022), regional and country reports, implementation partners’ records, and published literature. Reconstructing such intervention histories is crucial for an understanding of their evolution, modelling their impact, and tailoring future interventions. We discuss strengths and limitations associated with the ESPEN database, and how HISTONCHO can be improved to support modelling of intervention strategies as well as onchocerciasis control and elimination efforts by endemic country programmes.
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PosterCooper E, Guzman V, Ward H, et al., 2026,
Defining Long Covid: Using illustration to bring to life people's experiences of persistent symptoms of Covid-19
, IPIC 2026 Annual Conference -
Journal articleImrie RM, Bissett LA, Raveendran S, et al., 2026,
Post-pandemic changes in population immunity have reduced the likelihood of emergence of zoonotic coronaviruses.
, Nat Commun, Vol: 17Infections by endemic viruses, and the vaccines used to control them, often provide cross-protection against related viruses, potentially altering the transmission dynamics and likelihood of emergence of new zoonotic viruses with pandemic potential. Here, we investigate how population immunity after the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the likelihood of emergence of a novel sarbecovirus, termed SARS-CoV-X. To this end, we combined empirical cross-neutralisation data with mathematical modelling to identify key immunological and epidemiological factors shaping sarbecovirus emergence. We show that sera from individuals with different COVID-19 immunological histories contained cross-neutralising antibodies against the spike (S) protein of multiple zoonotic sarbecoviruses. Simulations parameterised by these data predict that the likelihood of emergence of a novel sarbecovirus has been reduced significantly by population cross-immunity, with outcomes determined by the extent of cross-protection and R0 of the novel virus. Preventative vaccination against SARS-CoV-X using available COVID-19 vaccines can help resist emergence even in the presence of co-circulating SARS-CoV-2. However, a theoretical vaccine with high specificity to SARS-CoV-2 can increase emergence probability by suppressing SARS-CoV-2 prevalence and, by extension, levels of natural cross-protection. Overall, SARS-CoV-2 circulation and vaccination have generated widespread immunity against related sarbecoviruses, creating an immunological barrier to novel sarbecovirus emergence in humans.
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Journal articleMichalow J, Cori A, Kimani J, et al., 2026,
Optimal deployment of gonorrhoea point-of-care tests: modelling the potential impact of diagnostic confirmation testing and screening strategies across five priority populations in Kenya
, The Journal of Infectious Diseases, ISSN: 0022-1899BackgroundGonorrhea treatment in sub-Saharan Africa relies on syndromic management, which has poor diagnostic performance and misses asymptomatic infections. Point-of-care tests (POCTs) could address these limitations, but anticipated supply constraints necessitate strategic allocation to maximize impact.MethodsWe developed a deterministic compartmental model of gonorrhea transmission in Kenya to evaluate allocating POCTs for diagnostic confirmation of symptomatic care attendees versus screening of routine healthcare service attendees across five priority populations: female sex workers (FSW), their male clients (CFSW), pregnant women, adolescent girls and young women, or total population men. We modeled constrained and unrestricted POCT availability during 2025–2030, and estimated infections averted relative to baseline syndromic management. Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained were quantified using probability tree models.ResultsAt baseline, incidence was highest among FSW (11.9 [UI: 5.7–18.6] per 100 per year) and CFSW (13.1 [6.9–24.8]), while most QALY losses (80.6% [76.1%–83.8%]) were among pregnant women and their infants. With constrained POCTs (sufficient to test 0.1% of adults annually), diagnostic confirmation averted the most transmission when among symptomatic FSW (2.1% [0.6%–5.6%] of infections) or CFSW (2.2% [0.8%–5.3%]), and the most morbidity when among symptomatic pregnant women (3.5% [1.8%–7.2%] of QALY losses). Screening averted <1% of infections or QALY losses across populations. With unrestricted POCTs, screening had larger absolute impacts but lower per-test efficiency than diagnostic confirmation.ConclusionsOur modeling supports prioritizing diagnostic confirmation over screening, consistent with WHO guidance to strengthen etiologic diagnosis within syndromic care. Diagnostic testing among symptomatic pregnant women had the largest impact on mitigating gonorrhea-related morbidity.
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OtherJahn S, Fraser K, Gaythorpe KAM, et al., 2026,
Developing and Applying a Unified Weather and Climate Database to Assess Climate Change Impacts on Tropical Infectious Disease Transmission and Burden
<jats:p>Research at the intersection of climate, weather, and health is rapidly expanding and inherently interdisciplinary, requiring integration of information across multiple disciplines. This includes comprehensive, accessible, reliable, and harmonized datasets that combine high-quality observational data with bias-corrected and downscaled climate projections from Global Climate Models (GCMs), such as from the sixth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6). However, despite the availability of numerous gridded observational datasets and pre-processed projections, individual products vary in strengths, limitations, and representations of fine-scale spatiotemporal patterns, which can substantially affect downstream modelling and projection of current and future health outcomes. Moreover, the operational scale of epidemiological analysis is typically defined by administrative units, rather than by regular grids, and therefore often relies on the inclusion of area-level estimates that are additionally weighted by indicators such as human population. Hence, spatially resolved weather and climate data, typically provided in specialized formats (e.g., NetCDF), generally require substantial preprocessing before they can be used for respective analysis.To address these challenges, we developed a tailored, quasi-global weather and climate dataset designed to support high-resolution infectious disease transmission modelling in tropical settings. Our dataset comprises (1) high-resolution (0.1°) daily climate projections between 60°N and 60°S, and (2) corresponding spatially averaged (population-weighted) area-level estimates at administrative unit levels 0-2 for over 100 countries. We therefore selected and evaluated multiple global observational datasets, including model- and satellite-based products such as ERA5 and CHIRPS, across heterogeneous, disease-relevant tropical study domains. The observational datasets showing the highest perfo
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