DTwP-HB-Hib vaccine (Pentavac SD, SSI / Pentavac PFS, SSI)

The Value of the White Blood Cell-to-Hemoglobin Ratio in Acute Lower Respiratory Tract Infections of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa.

Hong Mei M, Zhang Da-Wei DW

The white blood cell to hemoglobin ratio (WBC/Hb) shows potential in predicting the severity and poor prognosis of infectious diseases. However, the specific utility of WBC/Hb in acute lower respiratory tract infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ALRTIs-PA) has not been fully elucidated. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of WBC/Hb for disease severity (ICU admission) and its prognostic value for 90-day mortality in patients with ALRTIs-PA. A retrospective study was conducted among patients with ALRTIs-PA admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University from January 2020 to January 2024. Baseline demographics, clinical characteristics, and laboratory parameters were extracted from electronic medical records. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent risk factors for ICU admission. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to determine predictors of 90-day all-cause mortality, and significant variables were subsequently into a prognostic prediction model. A total of 549 patients were enrolled, of whom 301 (54.8%) ICU admission, and 72 (13.1%) died within 90 days. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified WBC/Hb, total protein (TP), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) as independent risk factors for ICU admission. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve showed the best predictive value of WBC/Hb. Multivariable Cox regression analysis identified WBC/Hb, along with NLR, TP, tracheotomy, tracheal intubation, mechanical ventilation, acute renal failure, and the number of antibiotics used, as independent risk factors for 90-day mortality in patients with ALRTIs-PA. Notably, WBC/Hb was the strongest predictor (HR =8.130, 95% CI: 3.852-17.157, P < 0.001) of mortality among all examined variables. Our findings suggest that WBC/Hb represents a valuable predictor for ICU admission and 90-day mortality in patients with ALRTIs-PA.

First mRNA Cancer Vaccine Succeeds in Phase III Trial.

Adding the mRNA-based individualized neoantigen vaccine intismeran autogene to the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab following surgery for melanoma reduced the risk of disease recurrence or death by 42%, according to the results of the phase III INTerpath-0001 trial. The data were presented at the ESMO Congress 2026, held October 23-27, in Madrid, Spain.

Innovative vaccine strategies for sustainable control and eradication of peste des petits ruminants virus.

Bello Muhammad Bashir MB, Hameed Sodiq A SA, Abdullahi Adama Musa AM, Lawal Nafi'u N et al.

A Carriage-Structured Model of Meningococcal Meningitis: Backward Bifurcation, Seasonal Recurrence, and the Reach of Conjugate-Vaccine Strategies in the African Meningitis Belt.

Gatyeni Siphokazi Princess SP

Epidemic meningococcal meningitis in the African meningitis belt recurs on two timescales: a sharp annual dry-season peak and irregular multi-annual epidemics five to twelve years apart, whose mechanistic origin remains unsettled. Invasive disease is a rare, dead-end outcome of asymptomatic nasopharyngeal carriage, so susceptible-infectious templates misrepresent community transmission. We ask how carriage structure shapes bifurcation, seasonal recurrence, and the reach of conjugate-vaccine strategies. We formulate a deterministic carriage-structured model in which only carriers transmit, immunity against re-acquisition is leaky, and a conjugate vaccine is imperfect and wanes. We use the Castillo-Chavez-Song centre manifold method, numerical continuation, Floquet and eigenvalue analysis, and scenario simulations of abstract rate- and pulse-type interventions parameterised from published belt ranges. The basic reproduction number R0 is a property of carriage transmission, decoupled to first order from disease incidence. Backward bifurcation at R0=1 is governed by a threshold ε∗ on carriage-blocking immunity; only the untreated fatality hazard and treatment capacity are absent from the local condition. It is impossible without vaccination and, with any positive routine coverage, persists across the plausible coverage range, giving vaccine-induced bistability. Continuation confirms a fold at R0,c≈0.946 (φ=0.12yr-1, weak carriage immunity), but not at baseline immunity. Under seasonal forcing, dynamics converge to a simple annual cycle throughout the region searched; we found no multi-annual recurrence, although damped eigenmodes of the unforced system have periods overlapping the observed interval. Within this deterministic, single-strain model, irregular recurrence likely requires additional structure, with stochastic amplification of damped cycles a natural next step. Whether sustained immunisation eliminates epidemics or merely postpones them may depend on the same carriage-efficacy threshold that governs the bistability result.