With advances in 3D bioprinting and tissue engineering technologies, the development and use of complex in vitro model systems such as microphysiological systems (MPS) is rapidly growing to study organ function, disease, drug discovery, drug efficacy and toxicology.

NIAID provides preclinical services using human cell-based MPS and organoids to test promising therapeutic candidates that combat viruses of biodefense (pandemic) concern.

Monotherapy with the antiviral drug tecovirimat was safe but ineffective as an mpox treatment in an international clinical trial.

A single dose of a broadly neutralizing antibody given prior to virus exposure protects macaques from severe H5N1 avian influenza, NIH scientists report.

A Phase 2 clinical trial will test the safety and efficacy of an experimental treatment for dengue, a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes.

Influenza A virus particles strategically adapt their shape – to become either spheres or larger filaments – to favor their ability to infect cells depending on environmental conditions, a new NIAID study published in Nature Microbiology reveals. This previously unrecognized response could help explain how influenza A and other viruses persist in populations, evade immune responses, and acquire adaptive mutations. The scientists designed the study to determine why many influenza A virus particles exist as filaments, which requires more energy to form than a sphere.

Tecovirimat was safe but did not reduce the time to lesion resolution or reduce pain among adults with mild to moderate clade II mpox and a low risk of severe disease in an international study.

Providing optional syphilis tests to most people seeking care at a large emergency department led to a dramatic increase in syphilis screening and diagnosis, according to study of nearly 300,000 emergency department encounters in Chicago. Most people diagnosed had no symptoms, which suggests that symptom-based testing strategies alone could miss opportunities to diagnose and treat people with syphilis.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is sponsoring a clinical trial to evaluate the safety of an investigational monoclonal antibody to treat enterovirus D68 (EV-D68), which can cause severe respiratory and neurological diseases such as acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) – similar to polio. Scientists are striving to better understand AFM, which has emerged in the United States with spikes in cases every other year, primarily in the late-summer months over the last decade. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identified increases in AFM cases in 2014, 2016, and 2018. EV-D68 is a virus of growing public health concern due to its association with the intermittent AFM outbreaks.

A dose-sparing intradermal mpox vaccination regimen was safe and generated an antibody response equivalent to that induced by the standard regimen at six weeks (two weeks after the second dose), according to findings presented today at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Global Congress in Barcelona. The results suggest that antibody responses contributed to the effectiveness of dose-sparing mpox vaccine regimens used during the 2022 U.S. outbreak.

Women who receive an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccination or booster during pregnancy can provide their infants with strong protection against symptomatic COVID-19 infection for at least six months after birth. These findings reinforce the importance of receiving both a COVID-19 vaccine and booster during pregnancy to ensure that infants are born with robust protection that lasts until they are old enough to be vaccinated.