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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(5 votes, average: 4.20 out of 5)In my never ending quest to link up various passions in life — especially baseball and Infectious Diseases — I bring you this news story: But for Seaver, after months of private denial, the scariest incident came when his head vineyard worker, who has been with him for seven years, came into the house one [...]
(5 votes, average: 4.80 out of 5)If you’re confused about the best way to diagnose C diff these days, welcome to the club. There are all kinds of tests out there, and no uniform approach between labs. Our lab actually does three tests — and will do a fourth (the classic cytotoxicity assay) if you request it. The result? Chaos, confusion, [...]
(5 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)When several of my colleagues attend on the inpatient consult service, they turn on an “out of office” message that provides an automated e-mail reply that goes something like this: I am currently attending on the inpatient consult service. During this busy time, I may not be able to respond to email in a timely [...]
(7 votes, average: 4.71 out of 5)(First in what will undoubtedly be a recurring series.) Hi Paul: What do you do when someone in a non-medical setting gets something really wrong, and it’s in our field? Here’s why I’m asking: I was picking up my 9-year-old son from school the other day, and his teacher reported to me that they were [...]
(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 [...]
(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 [...]
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)As some of you might have noticed, due to a web snafu here at Mass Medical Society, I was briefly a gastroenterologist earlier this week: Unfortunately, I don’t think this translated in a higher paycheck, even though scoping is much more lucrative than doing ID consults. And while HIV and ID Observations is admittedly a [...]
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)Some quick ID/HIV links while we await big guys playing the big game with a big (or at least bigger) ball. Did you see how this doctor cheated Medicaid out of more than $700,000 by prescribing HIV meds to people who didn’t have HIV? Not surprisingly, he’s going to jail. Proof that if there’s money behind [...]
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)A friend alerted me to this test of scientific literacy. Give it a try — no google cheating — and let me know how you do. And even though I got the first 5 questions right, my final score (to be disclosed in the comments, eventually) left little doubt that I was an English major in [...]
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)This site has been looking awfully plain the last couple of weeks. No pictures! The reason? You figure it out. But now we’ve got an exciting new treasure-trove of images, and I’m going to take advantage of this resource and provide some very exciting visuals for your enjoyment. Like this one, if you’re feeling cold: [...]
