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5 INFECTION CONTROL Universal coronavirus vaccines urgently needed, NIH leaders say By Mackenzie Bean M ore research is needed to understand the global "coronaviral universe" and devel- op vaccines that are broadly protective against coronaviruses, three leaders from the Na- tional Institutes of Health wrote in a Dec. 15 op-ed published in e New England Journal of Medicine. e article's authors are: • David Morens, MD, senior scientific advisor at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases • Jeffrey Taubenberger, MD, PhD, senior investi- gator of viral pathogenesis and evolution section at NIAID • Anthony Fauci, MD, director of NIAID "We urgently need universal coronavirus vac- cines," the physician leaders said, noting that SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — will likely circulate indefinitely, causing peri- odic outbreaks. Limitations of current COVID-19 vaccines suggest second-generation vaccines will eventually be needed to offer broader protection and more durable immunity against the virus. "Meanwhile, an unknown number of animal coro- naviruses, of unknown transmissibility and le- thality, may well emerge in the foreseeable future," Drs. Morens, Taubenberger and Fauci wrote. Collaborative international research efforts involving extensive viral sequencing of various bat species will be required to fully characterize the coronavirus ecosystem, according to the physician leaders. Researchers should also gain insights into the natural history and pathogene- sis of coronaviruses by studying those that have become endemic. "Our ongoing experience with the current COVID-19 pandemic, together with the ev- er-present threat of the emergence of other potentially pandemic coronaviruses, necessitates the expeditious development of safe and broadly protective coronavirus vaccines," they concluded. "is is a challenge that we must now fully com- mit ourselves to addressing." n Did a common flu strain disappear amid the pandemic? Scientists aim to find out By Mackenzie Bean S cientists are exploring whether a common flu strain has gone extinct during the pandemic, though they don't expect to have concrete findings for at least a year, The Wall Street Journal reported Dec. 9. Five takeaways: 1. Laboratories across the globe use genetic sequencing to track the presence of various flu strains and upload their findings to an interna- tional database. Since early 2020, no labs have reported flu infections caused by the influenza B Yamagata lineage. 2. Yamagata evolves more slowly than other influenza B strains, which could make it more vulnerable to eradication, according to the Journal. 3. Australian researchers are studying Yamagata's potential disappearance, as its extinction could change how drugmakers formulate annual flu shots. "If it's gone, it's a big deal," Dr. Marios Koutsakos, a research fellow at the Doherty Institute in Melbourne, Australia, who is studying Yamagata, told the Journal. "But the world is a very big place. It could be somewhere where we're just not seeing it." 4. Scientists have cautioned about jumping to conclusions and said it could take at least another year to confirm whether Yamagata has gone extinct. 5. Other flu strains have died out in the past, but it would be unusual for Yamagata to disappear without another strain emerging, scientists told the Journal. n 3 years since last CLABSI in ICU, reports New York hospital By Mackenzie Bean N YC Health + Hospitals/Queens hasn't reported any central line-associated bloodstream infections among intensive care unit patients for three consecutive years, the New York City-based hospital said Dec. 7. The hospital credits the success to a multilayered infection prevention approach. NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens has implemented new technol- ogies to reduce its reliance on central lines, performs daily reviews of central line necessity and uses central line bundles of care, among other efforts. Patients who develop CLABSIs are subject to longer hospital stays, high hospital costs and a higher risk of death, according to Jean Fleischman, MD, a pulmonary critical care attending physician who also serves as the hospital's associate director of medicine and deputy medical director for quality assurance and performance improvement. "I am delighted that NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens has reached this milestone of being CLABSI-free for three full years, particularly during a period where we weathered the hardships accelerated by the coronavi- rus pandemic," Dr. Fleischman said in a news release. n