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After decades of unrelenting increases, rates of sexually transmitted infections in the United States are showing hints of a downturn. Diagnoses of gonorrhea dipped in nearly all age groups last year, compared with 2022, and new cases of syphilis and chlamydia remained about the same, according to data released on Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The results are not yet cause for celebration. (Mandavilli, 11/12)

And importantly, diagnoses of primary and secondary syphilis — the most infectious stages of the infection — dropped 10% last year, to 53,000 cases. The decline was driven by a 13% drop in such syphilis diagnoses among gay and bisexual men, who are about 2% of the adult population but have historically accounted for nearly half of such cases. The half-dozen other infectious disease experts who spoke with NBC News about the CDC report said they believed the sudden turnaround in syphilis diagnoses among gay and bisexual men was likely to be an early signal of such men’s eager adoption of a new, proven protocol in which the oral antibiotic doxycycline is used for STI prevention. (Ryan, 11/12)

A British Columbia (BC) teen from the Fraser Health region who was hospitalized with an earlier announced presumptive positive H5 avian flu infection is in critical condition, the province's top health official said today. In a media briefing streamed live on Canada's Global News, Bonnie Henry, MD, BC's health officer, shared the latest investigation findings, noting that the patient's symptoms began on November 2, and he or she was seen that day at a hospital emergency room. She said initial symptoms included conjunctivitis, fever, and cough. (Schnirring, 11/12)

The U.S. may be heading into Thanksgiving with respiratory disease levels at lows not seen since before the pandemic, and with few immediate signs of another tripledemic. Instead of seasonal flu, COVID-19 or RSV, the big public health concern at the moment is walking pneumonia — a bacterial infection of the lungs that's hitting kids and adults at levels not seen in years. (Reed, 11/13)

Novavax yesterday announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released a clinical hold on its new drug application for its COVID-flu combination and standalone flu vaccines. In a statement, the company said the step paves the way for it to begin enrolling participants for a phase 3 trial. (Schnirring, 11/12)