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October 2024

Think Horses First

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Youth e-cigarette and nicotine pouch use
The image shows illustrations of e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches. Text reads, “Among U.S. middle and high school students: E-cigarette use declined from 7.7% in 2023 to 5.9% in 2024; Nicotine pouch use remained low (1.8%) in 2024. Youth use of any tobacco product is unsafe. Talk with youth about the harms of tobacco product use.”

Read more about youth e-cigarette and nicotine pouch use

Don’t Forget Zebras

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Leptospirosis

Increased incidence of leptospirosis has been seen after exposure to flood water, such as in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Fiona. Leptospirosis, an acute bacterial zoonotic disease, is usually mild and characterized by fever, chills, myalgia, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, and conjunctivitis. About 10%–15% of patients develop severe, potentially fatal illness with multiorgan involvement that can include renal failure, liver failure, pulmonary hemorrhage, and meningitis. Initiation of empiric antibiotic treatment (e.g., doxycycline) is recommended while awaiting laboratory results.

Read more about leptospirosis

Opportunities to Improve Clinical Outcomes

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Protecting young infants from RSV
The image shows a clinician handing a newborn baby to a patient with text that reads, “Almost half of young infants were not protected from RSV last season because they didn’t get RSV antibodies and their mom didn’t get maternal vaccination.”

Read more about RSV

Protecting young infants from COVID-19

COVID-19–associated hospitalization rates among infants aged <6 months remain higher than among any other age group except adults aged ≥75 years and comparable to hospitalization rates in adults aged 65–74 years. However, these young infants are not eligible for COVID-19 vaccination. Among hospitalized infants, 18% of their mothers were vaccinated during pregnancy during October 2022–September 2023, decreasing to <5% during October 2023–April 2024. Clinicians can focus on ensuring pregnant patients receive recommended COVID-19 vaccines to protect themselves and their young infants.

Read more about COVID-19-associated hospitalization rates

Did you know? Medscape & MMWR have FREE CME activities

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Continuing medical education credits are available from Medscape on select MMWRs.

Learn more about FREE CME

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