Impact of COVID-19 Vaccination on Pregnant Women.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers across the world hastened to develop vaccines that would aid in bolstering herd immunity. Utilizing mRNA coding and viral vector technology, the currently approved vaccines were required to undergo extensive testing to confirm their safety for mass usage in the general population. However, clinical trials failed to test the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines in groups with weakened immune systems, especially pregnant women. Lack of information on the effects of vaccinations in pregnancy and the safety of fetuses are among the topmost reasons preventing pregnant women from receiving immunization. Thus, the lack of data examining the effects of COVID-19 vaccinations on pregnant women must be addressed. This review focused on the safety and efficacy of the approved COVID-19 vaccinations in pregnancy and their impact on both maternal and fetal immune responses. For that, we took the approach of combined systematic review/meta-analysis and compiled the available data from the original literature from PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE and Medline databases. All articles analyzed presented no adverse effects of vaccination in pregnancy, with varying conclusions on the degree of effectiveness. The majority of the findings described robust immune responses in vaccinated pregnant women, successful transplacental antibody transfer, and implications for neonatal immunity. Hence, findings from the cumulative data available can be helpful in achieving COVID-19 herd immunization, including pregnant women.

Tuberculosis-Associated Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome-An Extempore Game of Misfiring with Defense Arsenals.

The lethal combination involving TB and HIV, known as "syndemic" diseases, synergistically act upon one another to magnify the disease burden. Individuals on anti-retroviral therapy (ART) are at risk of developing TB-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (TB-IRIS). The underlying inflammatory complication includes the rapid restoration of immune responses following ART, eventually leading to exaggerated inflammatory responses to MTB antigens. TB-IRIS continues to be a cause of morbidity and mortality among HIV/TB coinfected patients initiating ART, and although a significant quantum of knowledge has been acquired on the pathogenesis of IRIS, the underlying pathomechanisms and identification of a sensitive and specific diagnostic marker still remain a grey area of investigation. Here, we reviewed the latest research developments into IRIS immunopathogenesis, and outlined the modalities to prevent and manage strategies for better clinical and diagnostic outcomes for IRIS.

Dengue Infection - Recent Advances in Disease Pathogenesis in the Era of COVID-19.

The dynamics of host-virus interactions, and impairment of the host's immune surveillance by dengue virus (DENV) serotypes largely remain ambiguous. Several experimental and preclinical studies have demonstrated how the virus brings about severe disease by activating immune cells and other key elements of the inflammatory cascade. Plasmablasts are activated during primary and secondary infections, and play a determinative role in severe dengue. The cross-reactivity of DENV immune responses with other flaviviruses can have implications both for cross-protection and severity of disease. The consequences of a cross-reactivity between DENV and anti-SARS-CoV-2 responses are highly relevant in endemic areas. Here, we review the latest progress in the understanding of dengue immunopathogenesis and provide suggestions to the development of target strategies against dengue.