Infectious Disease Frontier

Cerebral aspergillosis (CA) is a lethal invasive fungal infection, with current national and international guidelines recommending voriconazole as the first-line antifungal treatment. While newer triazoles, such as isavuconazole, demonstrate good blood-brain barrier penetration, there is still limited clinical evidence to confirm their efficacy and safety for treating CA. Recently, Clinical Infectious Diseases published a retrospective study led by the European Fungal Infection Study Group (EFISG) of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID). The study highlights that isavuconazole is well-tolerated in the treatment of CA, with mortality rates comparable to those of voriconazole.

On September 4, a team of Chinese researchers led by Dr. Wei Liu and Dr. Hao Li from the State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, along with Ningyi Jin’s team from the Changchun Institute of Veterinary Medicine, published a groundbreaking study in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). The report details the discovery of a new tick-borne RNA virus, named the Wetland Virus (WELV), found in a wetland park in Nei Mongol. This discovery enhances our understanding of tick-borne diseases and provides new insights into the research and prevention of emerging infectious diseases globally.