By The Defender Staff
American Doctor Battling Ebola Is Weak but Stable, Officials Say
An American medical missionary doctor infected with Ebola while working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo remains weak but is not critically ill after being evacuated to Germany for treatment, officials said. During a news conference on Wednesday, health officials said Dr. Peter Stafford has not required intensive care and has not suffered organ failure. Officials said his viral counts are steadily decreasing as he receives antiviral treatment.
Stafford is being treated in a fully isolated ward at the Charité Hospital in Berlin, though officials said he can still see his family through a window. Officials added that his wife, Dr. Rebekah Stafford, has tested negative for Ebola and remains symptom-free, but they are being quarantined in a separate section of the unit with child-friendly accommodations and psychological support services. Officials noted two of the children are toddlers, and the infection could be especially dangerous for them.
The latest Ebola outbreak is linked to the Bundibugyo strain, for which there is no approved vaccine or targeted treatment. Health officials said the virus spread undetected for weeks after the first known death, as authorities initially tested for a more common Ebola virus.
Why the Ebola and Hantavirus Outbreaks Have Confounded Scientists
This month, a pair of viruses seized the headlines. First came a hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship, which caused as many as 13 infections, three of which were fatal. Then an Ebola outbreak flared in Africa, so far leading to more than 900 infections and 220 deaths. In both cases, the news has been not only frightening but also confusing, even to scientists. The hantaviruses didn’t seem to be acting like hantaviruses, and the Ebola viruses weren’t behaving like Ebola viruses.
Hantaviruses are carried by rodents and other animals, and typically infect people who inhale dried animal urine and saliva. But aboard the cruise ship M.V. Hondius, hantaviruses were moving from person to person.
As for the African outbreak, scientists have made huge strides in fighting Ebola in recent years. They’ve created vaccines that can slow the spread of the disease and antiviral drugs that can cure infections. But these treatments are probably going to be weak or useless. This is a very different Ebola virus.
Congo Seeks Experimental Ebola Drug as Cases Surpass 1,000
The Democratic Republic of Congo is seeking access to an experimental antibody treatment targeting multiple Ebola strains as confirmed infections and deaths continue climbing in the country’s conflict-hit east. Congo reported 121 confirmed Ebola cases and 17 confirmed deaths as of May 26, while suspected cases climbed to 1,077 and suspected deaths reached 238, according to health ministry figures released Wednesday. Sixteen new infections were recorded in Ituri province alone, the ministry said.
Eastern Congo faces a “catastrophic collision” of war and disease as fighting and displacement accelerate the spread of Ebola and undermine efforts to isolate patients and trace contacts, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned Wednesday, ahead of a planned visit to the country Thursday.
“We cannot build community trust or isolate the sick while bombs are falling,” Tedros said in a statement calling for an immediate ceasefire.
Scientists Find a Potential Cure for Chronic Hepatitis B
A new drug has essentially cured 1 in 5 patients with chronic hepatitis B infections, researchers reported on Thursday, a feat that has stymied scientists for years.
“It’s the first major advance in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B in decades,” said Dr. William Jarnagin, a surgeon and liver specialist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
The study included patients who, unlike most infected with hepatitis B, did not recover. Instead, the virus — transmitted by body fluids like semen or blood — takes up residence in the liver. Chronic infections can lead to cirrhosis, liver cancer and death.
While hepatitis B can be prevented with a vaccine, over one million people in the United States have acquired the chronic form of the infection. Treatment is lifelong, requiring antivirals and drugs that boost the immune response.
Health Officials Report Uptick in Mpox Infections in Wisconsin
Five Wisconsinites have been reported infected with mpox this year, and state health officials are recommending that people who might be at risk for the illness get vaccinated. Mpox — previously known as monkeypox — is a viral illness that produces a rash, skin lesions, and fevers, aches or chills.
The virus isn’t common but can be serious, and is spread through intimate, face-to-face contact that includes talking or breathing closely, or through sustained skin-to-skin contact, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. It can also be spread through items that have been contaminated with fluids or sores from someone with mpox.
Since 2022 mpox has been circulating in the U.S. at low levels, according to DHS. For 2026, through May 26, 535 cases of mpox have been confirmed in the U.S, including the five people diagnosed in Wisconsin. The risk is low for the general public, DHS reported, but people who may be at higher risk for exposure to mpox should talk to healthcare providers about vaccination.
DHS has recommended the mpox vaccine for higher risk people, including men who have had sex with men and who have had more than one sex partner in the last six months.
Ozempic May Be Reshaping the Brain, Scientists Say
Ozempic was supposed to be a gut story. Then Allison Shapiro looked at the brain scans. An assistant professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz, she was part of a team studying 13 teens and young women with a hormonal disorder affecting the ovaries who were put on GLP-1 drugs. As part of testing to catalogue the effect of the medication on their bodies, Shapiro took snapshots of their brains before and after.
She was astonished to find extensive changes. Within only a few months, the brain connections in the salience network, which helps target attention, had multiplied.
“We didn’t expect to see this effect, and we really don’t know what it means,” Shapiro said.
Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs were initially understood as a metabolism breakthrough: medicines that act like hormones to control hunger, blood sugar and weight. But as researchers probe deeper into how the drugs work, early evidence suggests that GLP-1s may also be reshaping parts of the brain.
Over-the-Counter Antibiotic Sales a ‘Significant Barrier’ to Addressing Antibiotic Resistance
The results of a survey conducted among healthcare professionals in 37 countries suggest over-the-counter (OTC) antibiotic sales remain all too common, researchers reported last week in JAC-Antimicrobial Resistance.
The electronic survey, sent to members of the AMR Insights Ambassador Network by a team of international researchers, assessed demographic characteristics, the existence of national regulations regarding OTC antibiotic sales, and the availability of specific antibiotics for purchase without a prescription. Although research has shown that the use of OTC antibiotics remains ubiquitous in many countries, particularly in Asia and Africa, the researchers said the practice “remains inadequately described on a global scale.”
“The acquisition and use of antibiotics without a prescription remains a significant barrier to addressing the global burden of AMR [antimicrobial resistance],” they wrote. “While all antimicrobial use contributes to the development of resistance, such use when unwarranted can lead to significant harm to both the individual and society.”
Vaccine Shows Promise Against Aggressive Brain Cancer
In patients with an especially aggressive form of glioblastoma, the vaccine caused no serious side effects and prolonged patients’ overall survival compared to historical outcomes after standard-of-care surgery and chemo-radiotherapy. One long-term survivor remains recurrence-free nearly five years later.
The results of the phase 1 trial, conducted at Siteman Cancer Center, based at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University in St. Louis Medicine, appear in Nature Cancer. The study was led jointly by Mass General Brigham and Geneos Therapeutics, a Philadelphia-based biotechnology company.
“We are extremely encouraged by these results,” says Tanner M. Johanns, lead author of the study and an assistant professor in the Division of Oncology in the medicine department at WashU Medicine.
“This kind of vaccine is a first for glioblastoma, and it is exciting to think how we can leverage this individualized therapeutic DNA cancer vaccine platform to make a positive impact on the lives of patients who are fighting this disease. Additionally, combination therapies leveraging this personalized platform are currently being investigated at WashU to test if outcomes may be improved further.”
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IPAK-EDU is grateful to The Defender as this piece was originally published there and is included in this news feed with mutual agreement. Read More
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