This large trial compared the angiotensin-receptor blocker telmisartan, the angiotensin-converting–enzyme inhibitor ramipril, and combination therapy with both drugs in patients with vascular disease or high-risk diabetes. Outcomes were the same with telmisartan and ramipril, and there were more adverse events with combination therapy.

Infection with herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) is associated with an increased risk of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, the suppression of HSV-2 with acyclovir did not decrease the rate of newly diagnosed HIV infection in Tanzanian women at high risk for acquiring HIV.

In the Stenting and Angioplasty with Protection in Patients at High Risk for Endarterectomy (SAPPHIRE) trial of 334 patients with carotid-artery disease, carotid-artery stenting was not inferior to endarterectomy at 30 days or at 1 year. Most patients were followed for an additional 2 years. There was no significant difference between the two groups in the composite end point of death, stroke, or myocardial infarction within 30 days or death or ipsilateral stroke between 31 days and 3 years.

In 2006, the United States had the largest mumps outbreak in two decades. A total of 6584 cases were reported, with an estimated incidence of 2.2 cases per 100,000 persons. In patients for whom vaccination status was known, 63% had received two doses of the mumps vaccine. The same mumps strain that caused a recent outbreak in the United Kingdom caused the 2006 outbreak.