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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(8 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)I was doing a clerkship in Medicine way back in my third year of medical school, and had this memorable exchange with one of the hospital’s Distinguished Professors during a case presentation on morning rounds: Me (nervous): This is a 72-year-old man admitted with chest pain. He has a past medical history notable for a [...]
(6 votes, average: 4.83 out of 5)I’ve been working with the folks over at Clinical Care Options (in particular, Elaine Seeskin) on a program entitled, “So You Think You’re an HIV Expert”, and it was just released here. It’s a series of quick interactive case presentations, and thanks to some nifty programming and great questions submitted by my colleagues Drs. Daar, [...]
(9 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)Every so often a commentary gets something just right, and fortunately we have an example in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine. Entitled “Fever of Unknown Origin or Fever of Too Many Origins?”, it’s the best depiction I’ve read about doing ID consults in the intensive care unit (ICU). The author, Harold Horowitz (who has [...]
(8 votes, average: 4.38 out of 5)In cased you missed it, fecal transplant — use of poop from a healthy donor, which is then infused into the colon either from above (nasogastric tube) or below (colonoscope) — is unquestionably the most effective treatment for people who have multiple recurrences of C. difficile colitis (C diff). We know this because of a [...]
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)Management of recently acquired HIV infection — especially acute HIV, pre-seroconversion — has long been controversial, with the risks and benefits of treatment versus observation debated now for nearly two decades. (Yes, it’s been that long since the publication of this controlled trial of zidovudine monotherapy. Amazing.) On the risk side of the equation is [...]
(7 votes, average: 4.86 out of 5)In a week that saw both our hospital’s influenza-induced bed crunch make the New York Times, and my son, mother-in-law, and me succumb to this seasonal plague despite our receiving flu shots, I have been highly attuned to all things influenza. But the focus here will be on that perennial whipping boy of preventive Infectious Diseases, [...]
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)Email exchange with a colleague who works at one of our community health clinics: Guy: Hi Paul, your patient 17432862 [that's a made-up medical record number] came to our walk-in clinic with a rash on her hand. OK that I gave her a week of topical steroids? I know how inhaled steroids interact with some [...]
(4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)As Physician’s First Watch noted, we sure know what the folks at the FDA were doing this holiday season — and most emphatically they weren’t visiting Aunt Selma in Boca Raton. Nope, they were stuck in White Oak, Maryland, reviewing various new drug applications, with three of the four related to Infectious Disease. The FDA’s [...]
(7 votes, average: 4.86 out of 5)The CDC has recently issued the latest report on HIV incidence (i.e., new infections) in the United States, and as always it’s fascinating to review the numbers. To start, the year-by-year estimated incidence: 2007: 53,200 2008: 47,500 2009: 45,000 2010: 47,500 (38,000 men, 9,500 women) Nope, not much change. Will data from HPTN 052 — published [...]
