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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(3 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)In the latest treatment-naive trials of elvitegravir and dolutegravir, there’s a striking consistency in the results of the “test” regimen. Here are the studies, with the percentage of responders by treatment arm: Study 102: TDF/FTC/EFV (84%) vs. TDF/FTC/EVG/c (88%) — non-inferior Study 103: TDF/FTC + ATV/r (87%) vs. TDF/FTC/EVG/c (90%) — non-inferior SPRING-2: TDF/FTC or [...]
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)As has often been the case in the history of the HIV epidemic, the HIV/AIDS Division at San Francisco General Hospital and the San Francisco Department of Health were ahead of the curve in 2010 when they issued a recommendation that all people with HIV should receive treatment, regardless of CD4 count. Of course, US guidelines [...]
(5 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)Over in JAMA, there’s a large study out today that (yet again) failed to demonstrate a benefit of vitamins. Over 3000 patients with HIV in Tanzania were randomized to receive either high-dose or standard-dose multivitamin supplementation, in addition to “HAART” (ugh). Though the study was planned for 24 months, it was stopped early by the Data [...]
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)The Liver Meeting, the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease, does not take place until November 9-13, in Boston. But if you want a preview, a couple of notable studies have already been “announced” in the press. Specifically, there’s this: Abbott today announced initial results from “Aviator,” a phase 2b study of [...]
(5 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)Every so often, we’ll get a referral from a gastroenterologist about a refractory case of Helicobacter pylori. Usually the patient has been treated multiple times, and still has symptoms and a positive test. Naturally a referral to a specialist in Infectious Diseases seems warranted. But the reality is that this is like the IV nurse [...]
(4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)Some additional excellent questions from the course: For someone who has had 3 doses of hepatitis B vaccine but does not have the antibody, should we just go ahead and give another 3 shots? A: (Per vaccine guru Howard Heller): The guidelines say to just go ahead and give another 3 shots but if the [...]
(2 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)We do a post-graduate course each year called “ID in Primary Care,” and it’s a great way for us to find out what people in outpatient primary care practice are thinking about from the ID perspective. I told the participants this year I’d post some of their most interesting questions on this site, with the hope [...]
(4 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5)From the Department of Opportunistic Expediency, we have this brazen pitch from one of our two presidential hopefuls: Romney and Ryan will do more to fight the spread of Lyme Disease … As president, Mitt Romney will ensure that real action is taken to get control of this epidemic that is wreaking havoc on Northern [...]
(2 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)By now, all ID docs know about the ceftriaxone-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Or, more accurately, we’ve read about it, since the vast majority of gonorrhea cases are treated in emergency rooms, STI clinics, college health facilities, and various primary care settings — not places that most ID doctors typically work. Plus, hardly anyone does susceptibility testing [...]
