August 6th, 2013

Nelson Cruz and Yet Another ID-Baseball Link

Texas slugger Nelson Cruz is one of the Biogenesis gang just suspended from baseball for use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs).

For those who care about these things, he’s also probably the most important player from the banned list, since he’s 1) very good and 2) on a team in contention for a playoff spot.

For those who don’t care about baseball, we have this from Cruz himself:

From November 2011 to January 2012, I was seriously ill with a gastrointestinal infection, helicobacter pylori, which went undiagnosed for over a month. By the time I was properly diagnosed and treated, I had lost 40 pounds. Just weeks before I was to report to Spring Training in 2012, I was unsure whether I would be physically able to play.

Now with the caveat that we ID doctors are woefully uneducated about all things helicobacter, it’s pretty clear that guidelines for treatment of H pylori don’t include testosterone, growth hormone, and whatever other garbage Biogenesis was peddling.

But could they make you a better right fielder?

One Response to “Nelson Cruz and Yet Another ID-Baseball Link”

  1. Jose Marrero says:

    You are right, guidelines for treatment of H pylori don’t include testosterone, growth hormone, and whatever other garbage athletes can take to enhance their performance. But help them to gain back, like in this case, the weight lost…

HIV Information: Author Paul Sax, M.D.

Paul E. Sax, MD

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NEJM Journal Watch
Infectious Diseases

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