Trending News: Biomarker May Enable Diagnosis, Treatment of Mediterranean Spotted Fever

There is little difference in rates of major cardiovascular events (MACE), cardiovascular disease mortality, and overall mortality based on insulin type among patients who are insulin-naïve, according to MD Magazine. A study including approximately 125,000 patients with type 2 diabetes was conducted across 4 sites between 2000 and 2013. The study authors suggest that those who initiated and continued treatment with human or analogue insulins experienced similar observed rates of MACE, cardiovascular disease mortality, and overall mortality.

The risk of syphilis does not decrease with repeated episodes of the infection, indicating a challenge for vaccination development, according to Contagion Live. A prospective cohort study included 2513 men who have sex with men diagnosed with HIV who received routine syphilis testing between 2004 and 2018 with the goal of determining risk factors for syphilis. The study authors note that the observed association of antiretroviral therapy with repeated syphilis episodes warrants further immunological and epidemiological investigation.

The rickettsial protein (RC0497) may enable early diagnosis, treatment, and public notification of spotted fever rickettsial infections, including Mediterranean spotted fever (MSF), according to The American Journal of Managed Care. The study authors identified RC0497 from a culture medium of primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells infected with Rickettsia conorri. The results suggested that RC0497 can significantly differentiate infected individuals from healthy controls and that different levels of RC0497 are proportional to the severity of the infection.