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.
Learn more about HIV and ID Observations.
(5 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)From the Georgia World Conference Center calendar: Note that this is not confirmed. But it looks like we’ll be sharing the center with an optometry education company and a dance competition. That should be fun. (Hat tip to an unnamed academic ID/HIV physician for the info, because you won’t find it here – yet.) [Edit: now [...]
(4 votes, average: 3.75 out of 5)Dear Time Magazine, Thanks for the recent coverage of HIV treatment. One small suggestion: in the future, try to find some some stock photos of HIV medications that are somewhat more up-to-date than, um, 1997, which is what you chose here and here. In our field, seeing these original AZT, ddC, and nelfinavir tablets is kind of [...]
(5 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)Let the record show that as of July 26, 2012, a person in Massachusetts can legally get an HIV test without signing a written consent. Hooray. There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?
(6 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)The early 1990s has potentially many associations — the break-up of the Soviet Union, the first Gulf War, the World Trade Center and Oklahoma City bombings, The Lion King, Forest Gump, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, and the cancellation of the baseball season, to name a few. But we HIV/ID specialists will [...]
(3 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)With the International AIDS Conference in Washington just starting, the International Antiviral (ahem) Society-USA has revised its HIV treatment guidelines, updating the 2010 version. As has been the case for several years now, it’s published in JAMA and also available on the IAS-USA web site. It’s a well written, evidence-driven summary of the current state [...]
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)Several ID/HIV items to contemplate as the heat really kicks in here in the torrid USA: TDF/FTC approved for pre-exposure prophylaxis. The challenging issues of defining the best candidates for this strategy — and finding the providers to prescribe it — still remain, but FDA approval should at least help justify insurance coverage if clinicians [...]
(19 votes, average: 4.95 out of 5)Unusual exchange the other day with one of my (non-ID) colleagues. All dialogue reported verbatim: Non-ID guy: Hi Paul. Me: Hi Jon. [I'm expecting the next line to be: "Quick question: I've got a patient with a positive PPD and a history of BCG, etc." Instead, it's this bizarre comment:] Non-ID guy: You know, I [...]
(4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)The recent FDA approval of a home HIV antibody test (OraQuick In-Home HIV Test) was covered just about everywhere. It’s an oral swab test, takes 20-40 minutes, and will be available over-the-counter. How big a news story was it? Several hundred sources featured it on the day of the announcement, and the total count is now well over [...]
(4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)As I’ve shared before, I’m no fan of the term “HAART” and do everything I can to stop people from using it. (I’m a fun guy to have at parties.) I’m returning to this pet peeve of mine because I realized recently that we’ve passed a milestone of sorts: Period of no effective HIV treatment, [...]
