Paul E. Sax, MD is the Editor-in-Chief, Journal Watch HIV/AIDS Clinical Care, Clinical Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
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(13 votes, average: 4.92 out of 5)You know that tenofovir, emtricitabine, and efavirenz HIV regimen? The one that’s universally listed as one of the “Preferred,” or “Recommended” or “First-line” options in all HIV treatment guidelines in the universe? And the regimen that is easily the most widely used in the USA today? Well, here’s a surprising review from Cochrane Summaries, entitled [...]
(5 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)The news that hepatitis C (HCV) has passed HIV as a cause of death in the United States got quite a bit of attention when it was first presented last year at ICAAC — and no doubt the published paper, in this week’s Annals of Internal Medicine, will also cause a stir. In fact, I boldly [...]
(4 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5)From the pages of JAMA comes this startling clinical trial: A randomized, placebo-controlled trial of adults with uncomplicated, acute rhinosinusitis [who] were recruited from 10 community practices in Missouri between November 1, 2006, and May 1, 2009 … [Subjects received a] ten-day course of either amoxicillin (1500 mg/d) or placebo administered in 3 doses per day … There was [...]
(11 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)Scene: Medical Grand Rounds, 5 minutes before the start. Lecture is on coronary artery disease, which may have a link to Infectious Disease even if it isn’t actually caused by Chlamydia pneumoniae or CMV after all. A well-regarded, experienced primary care physician (PCP) approaches. PCP: Hi Paul, I have quick question*. [*Curbsiders often use this exact phrase -- [...]
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)By now I’m sure that most of you ID folks out there have received the following letter from Merck, the makers of boceprevir: URGENT — IMPORTANT DRUG WARNING: VICTRELIS (BOCEPREVIR) The purpose of this communication is to inform you of recent pharmacokinetic study results evaluating drug interactions between VICTRELIS, an oral chronic hepatitis C virus [...]
(4 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)I’ve been following the chronic fatigue/XMRV story from the start, which was compelling for several reasons, including: A potential cause was identified of a very debilitating, mysterious illness. Lots of very smart ID people (including some of my colleagues) studied it. Media coverage, notably from the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, was [...]
(5 votes, average: 4.60 out of 5)I have a very smart, very experienced colleague — clue, his initials are CC, and he doesn’t pitch for the Yankees — who continues to use bDNA testing for HIV viral load monitoring. You know, the assay with a lower limit of detection of 75 copies. He knows that bDNA is less sensitive than PCR. [...]
