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Moderna is girding itself for a commercial battle with two of the largest vaccine makers in the world— Pfizer and GSK —with the expected launch of its respiratory syncytial virus vaccine later this year. But in an abstract released ahead of a scientific conference scheduled for next week in Mumbai, Moderna presented efficacy data for its experimental RSV shot for older adults, mRNA-1345, that is notably worse than the efficacy data from the same trial the company presented early last year. It isn’t entirely clear why the efficacy results plunged, though the new results reflect an average follow-up with patients that is nearly five months longer. (Nathan-Kazis, 2/9)

Real-world efficacy data from Spain indicate that the RSV drug nirsevimab (Beyfortus) is at least 70% effective at preventing RSV hospitalizations in infants under 9 months old, according to new research in Eurosurveillance. Spain was one of the first countries to introduce nirsevimab as universal RSV prophylaxis (prevention) into its national immunization program for all infants born on April 1, 2023, and after. (Soucheray, 2/9)

The flu virus is hanging on in the U.S., intensifying in some areas of the country after weeks of an apparent national decline. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released Friday showed a continued national drop in flu hospitalizations, but other indicators were up — including the number of states with high or very high levels for respiratory illnesses. “Nationally, we can say we’ve peaked, but on a regional level it varies,” said the CDC’s Alicia Budd. “A couple of regions haven’t peaked yet.” (Stobbe, 2/9)

Scientists at Washington University have found that patients hospitalized with the flu can display long-term effects similar to those found in long COVID patients. The researchers found evidence of long flu by looking at Veterans Administration hospital records of flu and COVID-19 patients that had been stripped of identifying information. In the year and a half after patients became sick with the flu, some suffered elevated risk of continued breathing and lung problems. (Fentem, 2/9)

Health officials announced this week that a resident of Deschutes County — a rural part of Oregon — was diagnosed with plague, marking the state's first human case in more than eight years. The person was likely infected by their pet cat, who had developed symptoms, according to Deschutes County Health Services.Humans are most commonly exposed to plague from the bites of fleas carrying Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes the disease. (Bendix, 2/9)

In recent years, the potential danger fungal infections pose to human health has become more and more apparent, as fungi either evolve to evade treatments or spread beyond their typical geographical regions. Doctors around the world are desperate for new medicines to combat the growing threat. “The problem with fungal diseases has gotten to the point where the World Health Organization has recognized it as a widespread threat,” said Dr. Arturo Casadevall, a microbiologist and chair of molecular microbiology and immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. (Sullivan, 2/11)

For reasons that almost certainly have to do with global travel and poor pest management, bedbugs have resurfaced with a vengeance in 50 countries since the late 1990s. But recently, the resurgence has brought an added twist: When exterminators swarm out to hunt these pests, they might encounter not just one but two different kinds of bugs. (Eberle, 2/10)