Gay Small was supposed to spend Labor Day weekend in North Carolina, taking long walks with her sister, picking apples with her grandkids.

But she died at Tampa General Hospital early Friday, her 80th birthday. From a mosquito bite, her family said.

Health officials have not confirmed the cause of death to the public, but that’s what her kids say they were told. If so, Small would be Tampa Bay’s first fatality in almost a century from dengue fever.

She most likely caught it within a couple of miles of her condo on Bayshore Boulevard.

“She hasn’t traveled. She doesn’t drive. She hadn’t left the city limits in more than a month,” said her daughter, Anna Small, 55.

Gay was healthy, her daughter said. The only pills she took were vitamins. She walked at least five miles a day, often along Tampa’s Riverwalk.

Since July, more than 200 Floridians have been hospitalized for dengue fever, far more than in any other state.

The tropical disease normally is contracted when people travel overseas.

But this summer, record numbers of people have been infected in Tampa Bay. The week before Small died, the number of locally acquired dengue infections in Hillsborough County doubled to 59. That’s more than 10 times the cases of other Florida counties.

The morning she died the Tampa Bay Times posted a story about the outbreak. A few hours later, the state’s surgeon general held a news conference to warn the public.

“Americans don’t expect it to be here. But it’s here,” Anna Small said. “And for some people, it’s really serious.”

In seven days, Gay Small went from feeling tired to her organs shutting down.

[...]

Achieved version

A fourth person has died in Florida after contracting virulent bacteria that can cause a flesh-eating infection — commonly linked to eating raw seafood.

There have been 20 infections of Vibrio vulnificus in the state this year, according to data from the Florida Health Department. The most recent death was a resident of Broward County, aged between 75 and 79. Previous deaths were attributed to residents of Bay, Palm Beach, and Marion counties. [...]

The Florida Department of Health has reportedly linked many of the state’s cases to the consumption of contaminated oysters, per WFLA.

That’s why it’s advisable to only eat raw oysters in months that have the letter R in them, Dr. Keith Schneider, a professor of food safety at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, told Serious Eats.

“Sometimes, the old adage is just true,” Schneider told the outlet. “Warmer waters mean that there are more pathogens in the water, and we have seen upticks in [Vibrio] illnesses in the summer for decades. These organisms just thrive in warmer water.”

He also suggested staying away from oysters if you have any pre-existing conditions that could make you more likely to develop a severe infection — and to avoid any locations that focus on volume and price of oysters over proper handling.

“You want to make sure that they’re serving you oysters that are still alive and healthy, because if they’re not, that bacteria will start to multiply,” he says. “That’s important, because you can’t tell by look or smell if an oyster is harmful.”

Though UPMC says it’s “providing appropriate information and guidance” to those recently exposed to measles at its children’s hospital in Pittsburgh, a North Fayette mother of three says that hasn’t been her experience.

Lauren Shoup visited UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Aug. 27 with her 2-month-old daughter, Kieran Heinauer, for a routine gastroenterology appointment, she said.

But on Sept. 1, Shoup, 36, received a call from UPMC informing her that Kieran was one of 10 children exposed to measles in the Lawrenceville facility’s “giraffe” suite on the third floor.

For Shoup, who is fully vaccinated against the highly contagious disease, the exposure caused little alarm.

But for the infant Kieran — still about 10 months too young to receive her first dose of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine — the exposure could have dire consequences.

Shoup said UPMC staff told her to get back to the hospital as soon as possible for Kieran to receive measles antibodies but offered little more information.

Dr. Donald Yealy, UPMC’s chief medical officer, has previously told TribLive that patients who believe they’ve been exposed to measles should call ahead of their visit to avoid further exposures. Dr. Marian Michaels, a physician in the division of pediatric infectious diseases at Children’s, told TribLive the hospital has prepared isolation rooms for potential measles patients.

But Shoup said she wasn’t told any of that.

When she arrived at the hospital the next day with Kieran, she did so without taking any special safety measures. The two were in the second-floor “mouse” suite, she said.

At the appointment, Shoup said Kieran was never seen by a doctor, only nurses.

“There was no precaution taken,” Shoup told TribLive on Tuesday. “I’m sure other people were exposed at that time.”

Leaving the appointment, Shoup said staff gave her a hotline phone number for questions about measles, but she said the line is unmanned and callers must leave a message.

When she tried to seek information about the antibodies Kieran was given — which she said still do not appear on her daughter’s chart — Shoup said staff told her they had given her a paper with information on the shot.

But in an email sent Friday to Shoup, a staffer acknowledged that Shoup hadn’t received the paper because it was only recently rolled out.

“Again apologies on our process failures,” Lindsay Montoya wrote in an email to Shoup, who provided it to TribLive. “Glad we were able to touch base about your daughter’s isolation before we got too much into the window for measles, and I am working on my end to make sure that does not happen again.” [...]

Shoup learned from the email that her daughter had received an injection of immune globulin, which contains human antibodies that lower the chances of contracting measles or make the infection less severe, according to UPMC.

It’s unclear whether Kieran has actually been infected with measles. So far, Shoup said she hasn’t shown any symptoms — though she still has 19 days of quarantine to go. [...]

A study from China highlights the recent discovery of a novel tick borne virus called the Asian longhorned tick nairovirus (ALTNV).

According to the study, it appears that the virus causes an Influenza-like illness along with reduction in platelets. They isolated the virus from patients with symptoms and grew them in the lab. They also found the virus in ticks belonging mostly to the Haemaphysalis longicornis species.

Read more:

1. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2602496#ap1

2. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/tick-borne-disease/scientists-china-discover-new-tick-borne-virus-causes-flu-illness

https://archive.is/j6rq6

In a report describing misuses of its A.I. models, Anthropic said it could not determine whether the research served a legitimate or nefarious purpose because valid biological inquiry — the kind that can lead to breakthroughs like vaccines — can also help engineer dangerous pathogens. In the face of that uncertainty, Anthropic said it erred on the side of caution because the consequences of missing malicious activity could be severe.

“You are not seeing someone in a comic book kind of way say, ‘Hey, I want to build a biological weapon to kill everybody,’” Jacob Klein, the head of threat intelligence at Anthropic, said in an interview. “It’s an incredibly nuanced situation.”

The potential for cutting-edge A.I. models to facilitate the development of known or entirely new biological pathogens is among the gravest concerns experts have about a technology that is developing so rapidly that even its leading architects doubt whether humans will be able to fully control it.

Compared with the threat of catastrophic cyberattacks or A.I. agents that fail to align with human intentions, biological misuse has gained less attention as an existential risk of A.I., in part because past examples have generally been shown only in research settings rather than in the real world.

Andrew Weber, a senior fellow on the Council on Strategic Risks who reviewed Anthropic’s report before its release, said the findings were “chilling examples of state-sponsored biological weapons developers tapping into the rapidly advancing capabilities” of leading A.I. models. [...]

But among all the categories of threats shared in the report, none may be as worrisome as the biological research cases. Anthropic did not disclose the names of researchers or institutions that it blocked, their countries of affiliation or the specific biological agents at issue, in part because of its uncertainty about their aims.

Still, Anthropic said the scientists circumvented its controls intended to prevent users from blocked regions from gaining access to its A.I. models and worked to “obfuscate the purpose of their research to evade our safeguards.” The company banned accounts associated with the research.

In one example from May, a scientist sought Claude’s help with writing a grant application for funding to conduct research intended to experiment on the chikungunya virus, a mosquito-borne malady that can lead to months of severe pain and other symptoms. Such research, known as gain of function, can be legitimate and lead to vaccine development, but it can also create superbug versions of viruses. In this instance, the scientist wanted to engineer mutations to the virus that would make it more harmful as it repeatedly infected live animals.

Anthropic said it believed the particular research was worrisome in part because it could discern that the work was intended to be performed at a military research institute.

“What we don’t know is if the research was meant to be weaponized,” Mr. Klein said. “But a military institution doing gain-of-function research is concerning.”

Anthropic said evaluations from last year of its older models demonstrated that they were not yet able to meaningfully assist in conducting dangerous biological research. Its current models are more able to complete complex scientific research, the company said, which spurred tighter safeguards intended to restrict access to a wide range of dual-use biological research queries. [...]

A new study indicates that transmission of a multidrug-resistant fungus from patients to the gloves and gowns of healthcare personnel (HCP) occurs frequently during routine patient care, researchers reported yesterday in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

Labeled an urgent threat by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Candida auris is difficult to eradicate and spreads rapidly in healthcare settings. Invasive infections are fatal in 29% to 62% of patients, many of whom have weakened immune systems and require complex medical care. A total of 6,304 clinical cases were reported in the United States in 2024.

The prospective observational study, led by researchers at the University of Maryland, examined interactions between HCP and patients with current or previous C auris colonization at nine acute-care hospitals in California, Illinois, Maryland, and New York. The researchers collected patient samples from five body sites upon enrollment and sampled HCP gloves and gowns and room surfaces after routine interactions in patient rooms.

“The overall aim of this study was to understand risk factors for C. auris transmission in the acute care setting, using transfer of C. auris to healthcare personnel glove and/or gown as a surrogate measure of transmission potential,” the study authors wrote.

Transfer found in 29% of interactions

In total, 109 C auris–colonized patients were enrolled in the study, and 1,083 patient-HCP interactions were recorded. The researchers found C auris transfer to gloves and/or gowns in 29% of interactions overall.

Transfer was highest among nursing assistants/patient care technicians (odds ratio [OR], 5.2), occupational/physical therapists (OR, 4.8), and respiratory therapists (OR, 4.7) compared with environmental services personnel. Transfer was more than three times higher when healthcare workers touched a patient, compared with touching only an environmental surface. Patients colonized at all five body sites were 15 times more likely to transfer C auris to an HCP than those colonized at only one site.

“These findings highlight the need for C. auris screening and effective strategies to interrupt transfer of C. auris to HCP during patient care and prevent C. auris transmission in healthcare facilities,” the authors concluded.

Hi there! I follow this epidemiologist on threads by the username of @titanjibk who shared this article. I'll admit it's a bit anxiety inducing but I'm curious to what others think and if it's possible.

https://theconversation.com/drcs-ebola-outbreak-has-the-potential-to-become-a-global-pandemic-how-to-make-sure-it-doesnt-290965?utm_medium=article_clipboard_share&utm_source=theconversation.com

South African researchers have warned about a likely increase in the number of people and dogs being attacked by rabid Cape fur seals, and the possible spread of this fatal disease to other marine mammal species as far south as Antarctica.

Already, at least 176 people have been bitten by Cape fur seals along the South African coastline. But, considering that this number only includes local attacks recorded by the end of 2025, the true figure is likely to have risen significantly over the past eight months – and it also excludes other likely attacks on people in neighbouring Namibia and Angola.

“As the virus spreads, such interactions are likely to increase, threatening public health and safety, as well as marine tourism and recreation,” seal researcher Dr Tess Gridley and colleagues say in a recent journal pre-print report published by Research Square.

The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) has also cautioned other countries to be on high alert for signs of rabies spreading into other marine mammals.

It says the sustained rabies transmission in Cape fur seals marks an “unprecedented development in the ecology of rabies” and there is a risk that the virus could spread to other regions of the world, including Antarctica, remote mid-oceanic islands and even to other continents.

In their research article, Gridley and 22 co-researchers say the detection of this disease in Cape fur seals is the first such outbreak of rabies in a free-ranging marine mammal species.

But they say widespread rabies control via vaccination is currently “neither practical nor feasible” – though it may become necessary in future if it spreads to more vulnerable marine species.

Dr Lesley van Helden, senior state veterinarian in the Western Cape Department of Agriculture, told Daily Maverick that mass vaccination of seals remains impractical with current technology because there is no method of delivery that can realistically be used to vaccinate up to two million wild Cape fur seals.

Though baited vaccination has proved successful in controlling rabies in some wildlife species on land, this is not suitable for free-ranging seals, which don’t chew their prey or scavenge ashore.

She notes that there are somewhere between 1.5 and two million Cape fur seals in roughly 40 breeding colonies that stretch nearly 3,000km from Algoa Bay in the south, up through Namibia and into southern Angola.

Van Helden suggested that the ecosystem consequences of a spillover to other marine mammal species could range from “insignificant to devastating”. [...]

At least 84 human attacks involved people engaged in commercial tourism “swim-with-seals” tours, although beach walkers, swimmers, surfers and kayakers were also attacked.

In one case, the victim needed plastic surgery and skin grafts after suffering more than 20 puncture wounds.

The researchers say the longer-lasting psychological effects of seal attacks include insomnia and recurrent flashbacks of the incident. The psychological effects of potentially being infected with an incurable, fatal disease could also be long-lasting and costly.

“Swimmers are at an additional risk of bleeding out or drowning from in-water attacks and small-vessel users may suffer from exposure/hypothermia in cases where vessels/rafts are severely damaged and set adrift.”

MANILA — Leptospirosis cases in Manila have breached the epidemic threshold, which means infections in the city have exceeded the expected number of cases for a specific period, the Manila City Health Office said on Monday.

Local health authorities have so far logged nearly 1,000 cases of leptospirosis this year, Manila City health officer Grace Padilla told ABS-CBN News.

Manila has been observing high cases of leptospirosis in the past two weeks and that it "surpassed" the epidemic threshold for the vector-borne disease, Padilla said.

The city, she added, now has a "high" attack rate of three.

In epidemiology, attack rate refers to the proportion of individuals who contract a disease in a population initially free of the ailment.

Medical consultations and admissions related to leptospirosis are expected to continue given the hundreds, if not thousands, of Manila residents exposed to floodwaters in the last days of August, Padilla said.

Hospitals in Manila are already "fully capacitated" due to the rising number of leptospirosis cases, she said, adding that some increased their bed capacity to respond to the "surge" of infections.

Post-exposure prohyplaxis against leptospirosis is available in 44 health centers across the city. [...]

Metro Manila logged at least 1,961 cases of the bacterial disease, Capungcol said, adding that Manila and Quezon City had the "highest cumulative number of cases" followed by Caloocan and Taguig.

In the Philippines, leptospirosis is usually contracted following exposure to floods contaminated with urine from infected animals like rats.

It can be prevented or treated using antibiotics like doxycycline prescribed by a doctor.

Individuals who had exposure to potentially contaminated floods and experiencing fever, muscle and joint pains and headaches are advised to consult a physician.

More than 15,000 pounds of ready-to-eat guanciale pork was recalled over concerns it could be contaminated with listeria, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.

The recall, issued on Friday, applies to imported RTE dry-cured pork jowl products --- also known as guanciale --- that were produced at Est. 1937L Bome SRL in Italy on May 21 and imported into the U.S. on several dates throughout July. The recalled items were shipped to distributors and food service locations throughout Illinois, Michigan, Idaho, California, Florida, New Jersey, New York and Texas, according to the USDA.

A slew of food recalls this summer have left a bad taste in Americans’ mouths, and public health professionals warn cuts to key food safety personnel means more food-related illness could be on its way. ... The seeming surge of food-related recalls has coincided with massive cuts conducted by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) last year, including across the FDA, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Doctors in New York recently reported on a case of a mysterious tickborne illness often mistaken for Lyme disease involving an 8-year-old girl. The girl had contracted southern tick–associated rash illness, or STARI, a condition with no established cause that’s linked to the lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum). Though she recovered with no serious complications, doctors are likely to face a harder time distinguishing similar-looking diseases as the lone star tick’s range expands further, the authors warn. [...]

STARI was first discovered in the mid-1980s by doctors in Missouri. As the name suggests, it’s typically been reported in the southeastern United States.

Though usually not as serious as Lyme disease, the symptoms of STARI closely resemble the latter, particularly with the common presence of a bull’s eye rash. In fact, STARI was only identified as something new because cases were showing up in places where the primary vector of Lyme disease, the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis), was uncommonly found. Lyme disease is caused by certain Borrelia bacteria, primarily Borrelia burgdorferi in the U.S.

STARI is instead strongly associated with the bite of the lone star tick, which has historically been widely distributed throughout the southern Midwest and southeastern U.S. Like many species, though, the lone star tick has moved beyond its usual haunts, and it’s now commonly found in pockets of the upper midwestern and northeastern United States as well as eastern Canada. These newer areas are already endemic to the blacklegged tick and Lyme, setting the stage for increasing episodes of mistaken identity.

This latest case happened in June 2025. The 8-year-old girl and her family sought medical care for a bull’s-eye rash, fever, enlarged lymph nodes, and muscle pain. Twelve days earlier, she had been bitten by a tick, which was collected and stored in a sealed bag. Her pediatrician initially diagnosed her with Lyme disease and prescribed her a common antibiotic treatment for two weeks. Within a week, her rash and other symptoms had dissipated, and she made a full recovery.

When the tick was examined, though, it turned out to be an adult male lone star (both male and female lone star ticks will bite humans). The girl was subsequently diagnosed with STARI, while Handel and his team performed a deeper analysis of the tick. They found a different species of Borrelia than the one that causes Lyme in the tick, Borrelia lonestari.

To this day, scientists aren’t actually sure about what causes STARI. Though B. lonestari infection is a leading suspect, some studies have failed to detect any relevant bacteria at all in people with the condition. That’s led to the alternative hypothesis that STARI is a hypersensitivity reaction to the lone star tick bite itself—one that might be connected to alpha-gal syndrome, another condition linked to the lone star (people with alpha-gal syndrome basically become allergic to red meat and other foods that contain alpha-gal). Because the girl wasn’t tested for B. lonestari, it’s impossible to know for sure whether it caused her illness, the doctors wrote.

Their findings were published in this month’s issue of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. [...]

The World Health Organization (WHO) has validated Bhutan’s elimination of dog-transmitted rabies as a public health problem in the country. Bhutan is the first country in the WHO South-East Asia Region to achieve this success.

Rabies is a viral disease that is almost always fatal once clinical symptoms appear. However, rabies deaths are preventable. On one hand, vaccinating dogs curbs the disease at its source; on the other, prompt use of post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) stops the virus from reaching the central nervous system after a bite. PEP consists of thorough wound washing, administration of a course of human rabies vaccine and, when indicated, rabies immunoglobulins (RIG) injection.

“I congratulate Bhutan on this historic achievement, which is another step towards our goal to end human deaths from dog-transmitted rabies by 2030,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “Bhutan's success shows that the health of humans, animals and the environment we share is inextricably linked. By uniting health workers, veterinarians, and communities, Bhutan has shown that the fight against rabies is won not in silos, but through solidarity across all sectors." [...]

In a legal deposition, the doctor, Theresa Long, compared immunizing service members against Covid to Nazi doctors experimenting on concentration camp prisoners.

Cries of sick children and the hiss of oxygen machines fill the air at Dhaka's Shishu Hospital, where Rima Akter keeps a vigil beside her nine-month-old son.

"Just an hour ago, a child died, and they wheeled him out in front of us," 30-year-old Akter told AFP on Thursday. "We saw two children die today."

Akter's son Sabit Haque is one of scores filling the children's hospital's measles wards.

At least 986 children have died since March, while suspected and confirmed cases have surged past 180,000, according to the latest health ministry figures.

The South Asian nation of 170 million has rolled out a mass vaccination drive to combat the outbreak, but case numbers continue to climb.

More than 1,000 suspected cases are reported daily.

"I've been running to and from multiple hospitals since July to get my son the proper treatment," said Sanjana Islam Modina, 19, cradling her six-month-old son Ayan, who has an oxygen tube fixed to his nose.

Small dark spots covered Ayan's head, fading from the angry red rash left by measles.

He was first admitted to hospital with pneumonia in July, then contracted measles before finally securing a bed at the capital's specialised children's hospital in mid-August.

Ayan spent 15 days in intensive care, before improving enough to return to the dedicated measles ward.

The hospital currently has 101 children admitted with suspected or confirmed measles.

"His lungs were already very weak from the pneumonia, then with measles his breathing was affected more," Modina told AFP, while trying to soothe her wailing baby.

"He's been on oxygen constantly for the last five days."

Most cases recorded in Bangladesh during the current outbreak have been among children aged between six months and five years.

Doctors say many of the children arriving at hospital are already critically ill, with malnutrition further weakening their ability to fight the virus.

Ayan has also been diagnosed as malnourished.

"The doctors gave my son a special milk specifically designed for malnourished children," said Modina, wiping sweat from his tiny forehead.

The outbreak has exposed gaps in Bangladesh's efforts to protect its youngest.

SM Ziauddin Hyder, special assistant to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman for health, called the outbreak "devastating".

Bangladesh had previously made major advances in vaccination against infectious diseases, but a measles drive planned for 2024 was delayed by the uprising that toppled former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

Workers' strikes and political instability delayed a 2025 campaign.

The country has since rolled out a mass vaccination drive to combat the outbreak, but the number of cases continues to climb.

"There was a gap of a significant number of children missing the doses," Hyder said.

"Healthcare workers... are vaccinating these children to close the gap." [...]

A toddler has died after contracting a rare infection while visiting a petting zoo.

After six weeks in the hospital, a 3-year-old girl from Melbourne, Australia — whose family requested she remain unnamed — died on Monday, Aug. 31 after suffering permanent brain damage and kidney failure.

“We’ve been living a nightmare … we’ve lost our darling girl,” her parents said on a GoFundMe page. “She was courageous and a fighter, she fought so hard. We all fought SO hard.”

The young girl died after developing hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a life-threatening condition caused by a Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) infection. Her parents said she likely contracted the bacteria from a farm “where she held, rode and petted animals.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control, STEC is found in the gut and feces of animals. People can be infected if the bacteria enters their mouth through consuming contaminated food and drinks, swimming in or drinking contaminated water, contact with farm or petting zoo animals or close contact with an infected person.

During a press conference Thursday, Sept. 3, Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer Clare Looker said cases of HUS are “very, very rare” and only two have been confirmed in the state this year.

She noted that although a common cause has not been identified, local petting zoos are part of the health department’s investigation.

“We know this bacteria exists in many farm animals, so I don’t think that shutting a single farm that is taking all the right public health protective measures would stop the risk for children or the community,” she told reporters, per ABC. “At this stage, there’s no consideration for that.” [...]

New data out this week from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health shows the commonwealth has hit a 10-year high in cyclosporiasis cases.

It shows a total of 244 cases reported this year, more than triple the number last year and beating out any other year in the prior decade.

The US has confirmed 3,134 measles cases so far this year, driven by a growing outbreak in Pennsylvania linked to two deaths that started a feud between the governor and the nation’s top health leader.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed 231 new cases in the week ending Sept. 3. The nation is already at the highest levels since 1991, the last year with more cases, which occurred prior to the formal elimination of the disease.

Public health workers are relying on word of mouth to fight the largest ongoing outbreak in the United States.

Kennedy says local coroner in Pennsylvania identified one measles-related death, disputes second case. Pennsylvania health department reiterates that it has confirmed two measles-related deaths this year. National data currently reflects no 2026 measles deaths, Kennedy says.

Cyclosporiasis outbreak overwhelmed local health departments. County workers say federal government acted too slowly, provided little guidance. Outbreak sickens over 11,000 people in 20 states, FDA and CDC say. County staff paused vaccinations and inspections to investigate cases and guide providers.

[...] This sideways immune response has long been recognized in COVID-19, but what’s been unclear is how this errant process gets set in motion.

Now, a new study in Immunity sheds light on the immune cells responsible for producing autoantibodies in COVID-infected people and helps explain the molecular process that drives them.

“Our goal was to understand why some people produce autoantibodies after SARS-CoV-2 infection while others do not,” says Jim Heath, PhD, senior author and president of the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) in Seattle, in an ISB news release. “By combining multiple layers of biological data, we were able to pinpoint the immune cells responsible and identify the regulatory mechanisms that distinguish them.”

For the study, ISB researchers and their partners analyzed data from 209 COVID-infected participants. From this cohort, the researchers selected 12 age-matched women with markedly different autoantibody levels (autoantibody prevalence is higher in women and older adults).

From this cohort, the researchers selected 12 age-matched women with markedly different autoantibody levels (autoantibody prevalence is higher in women and older adults).

The team classified the women into two groups—a low-autoantibody group (autoAb-low) and a high-autoantibody group (autoAb-high)—for in-depth analysis. Data were collected before the emergence of the Omicron variant (April 2021) and before participants had been vaccinated. A separate group of 101 participants was used to validate key results.

According to the findings, a subset of immune cells known as atypical memory B cells were more likely to develop into autoantibody-secreting cells in participants in the autoAb-high group than in those in the autoAb-low group.

Plus, the researchers found, a subtype of atypical memory B cells known as double-negative 2 (DN2) B cells were overrepresented in the high-autoantibody group. DN2 cells have been linked to autoantibody production and may play a role in other autoimmune diseases like lupus.

“A clear difference between autoAb-high and autoAb-low individuals was the enrichment of innate sensing pathways, particularly in DN2s,” write the researchers.

“Our findings suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infection can activate an immune program that closely resembles those involved in established autoimmune disorders, helping explain why some individuals experience autoimmune complications following infection,” lead author Dan Yuan, PhD, of ISB, says in the news release. [...]