HIV and ID Observations

July 3rd, 2011

Proof That We Are Not French

In case you were worrying about fading American national identity as we celebrate July 4, did you see this detail on a recent E. coli O104:H4 outbreak from France? More recently, at least 15 people in Bordeaux, in southwestern France, appear to have been infected with the strain found in Germany. Most of them have been […]

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June 9th, 2011

E. Coli, ID Doctors, and Fear of Infections

This was going to be about the shiga-toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) outbreak in Germany, and I promise to get there eventually. But to start:  One very useful concept from psychiatry is “reaction formation.” For those of you who have forgotten your college Psych 101, here’s the definition: A psychological defense mechanism in which one form of behavior substitutes for […]

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October 5th, 2009

No Baseball Tonight

“Are you writing another funny blog post because there’s no baseball?” asks my son J. As “funny” is very much in the eye of the beholder, that remains to be seen.  But here are a few things on my mind the last few days: No data supporting N95 over surgical masks for flu.  One huge logistical issue […]

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