Roche Holding AG has rapidly developed a research-use only molecular PCR test to detect the rare Ebola Bundibugyo virus, to support response efforts amid the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. The test comes as commentary in The Lancet this week underscored the urgent need for a fit-for-purpose diagnostic test, as it warned that the absence of reliable testing is hampering efforts to ascertain the scale of the epidemic and understand the transmissibility of this strain of Bundibugyo virus.

TRIM21, an enzyme involved in intracellular substrate degradation, can recognize viruses and bacteria that enter the cytosol when they are coated with antibodies. Just as it tags complex molecules for elimination, it can direct these infectious microorganisms to lysosomes through a mechanism its discoverers have termed antibody-directed xenophagy (ADX). Scientists at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge, U.K., have identified the genes involved in this antibody-dependent degradation pathway, which acts as an antimicrobial process, and reported their findings in Molecular Cell on June 4, 2026.

Nearly a year after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy announced the U.S. was cutting off funding for Gavi, a global vaccine alliance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said his department is reengaging with the organization in light of the ongoing Ebola outbreak in central Africa. In testifying before a June 2 Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Rubio said the State Department made the decision to reengage a few weeks earlier with Gavi. He provided no detail of what that engagement looks like.

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) represents a public health threat that can lead to serious problems, such as bloody diarrhea and hemolytic uremic syndrome in children in up to 10%-15% of cases. Antibiotics that normally combat diarrhea are not recommended for STEC infections and patients are usually treated only for symptomatology. Now, French researchers from Eligo Bioscience SA and their collaborators have published a paper on a CRISPR-based antimicrobial approach, EB-003.

Several presentations at EASL highlight a new generation of therapies coming into view, with the work from Tune Therapeutics Inc. standing out as one of the most relevant for the novelty it represents and the step forward it signals. The company is investigating the use of TUNE-401 as a potential treatment for hepatitis B.

The U.S. FDA approved Shionogi & Co. Ltd.’s Xocova (ensitrelvir) as the first oral post-exposure prophylactic option in the U.S. to prevent COVID-19, with the decision coming ahead of a PDUFA target date of June 16.

“I need to be honest with you about something important. Most previous Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were caused by a virus called Ebola Zaire, for which we have vaccines and treatments. This outbreak is caused by a different virus called Ebola Bundibugyo. There are currently no approved vaccines or treatments for it.” This was the stark message from Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) in an open letter to the people of the DRC, as he traveled to the country on Friday, May 29.

Landing on the right COVID-19 vaccine formulation for the coming season is becoming more complicated against a backdrop of low vaccination rates, young children with little to no immunization, declining surveillance data and a new SARS-COV-2 lineage slowly emerging.

GSK plc has announced a breakthrough in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B, reporting a functional cure rate of 19% across two phase III trials of its antisense oligonucleotide bepirovirsen.

Recent findings are reshaping current understanding of the post-infection landscape of SARS-CoV-2. Although previous studies had already suggested that autoimmunity might underlie the persistent neurological symptoms seen in long COVID, researchers at Yale University and Mount Sinai now reinforce this hypothesis. SARS-CoV-2 infection appears to trigger an autoimmune mechanism that drives chronic pain, fatigue and cognitive impairment in some patients.