HIV and ID Observations

November 29th, 2011

HIV Cure Makes the NY Times — Anything New to Report?

It’s right there, on page 1 of today’s Science Times: Medical researchers are again in pursuit of a goal they had all but abandoned: curing AIDS.  Until recently, the possibility seemed little more than wishful thinking. But the experiences of two patients now suggest to many scientists that it may be achievable. Two patients? What, did I […]

---

November 28th, 2011

Tenofovir Gel Disappointing in VOICE Trial

From the Microbicide Trials Network: VOICE, an HIV prevention trial that has been evaluating two antiretroviral (ARV)-based approaches for preventing the sexual transmission of HIV in women – daily use of one of two different ARV tablets or of a vaginal gel – will be dropping the vaginal gel from the study … The DSMB recommended […]

---

November 25th, 2011

Childhood Meningitis Terrifying, Fortunately Very Rare

Back in fellowship, we used to discuss the various reasons why we’d be called back into the hospital at night when we were on call. Mind you, this was a fairly rare event, since unlike gastroenterology fellows doing emergency endoscopy for bleeding and cardiology fellows coming in to do the urgent cath, what were we supposed […]

---

November 20th, 2011

Who Should Care For The Aging HIV Patient? Everything Old is … Oh You Know

Over in Journal Watch AIDS Clinical Care, Carlos Del Rio reviews a couple of remarkable studies on HIV and aging. From one of them: Compared with the controls, the HIV-infected patients had a higher prevalence of renal failure, bone fracture, and diabetes in every age range evaluated, as well as a higher prevalence of cardiovascular disease and […]

---

November 14th, 2011

Here Are Two Things You Don’t Hear Together Very Often: Walmart and HIV

As the parent of teenagers (and having been one myself many years ago), I’m acutely aware that everyone wants to think that he or she is special in some way. And while that is literally true (that is, no two people are exactly alike), as anyone will tell you who looks up a Sunday Times crossword puzzle […]

---

November 9th, 2011

HCV Treatment Studies at AASLD: Wow … and I Mean WOW!

I didn’t attend “The Liver Meeting” (the nickname for the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, AASLD), but the studies presented there this week on HCV treatment were absolutely mind-boggling. “Breathtaking!” said one of my HCV-oriented colleagues. “Hopeful is an understatement,” said another. An example: Dual Oral Combination Therapy with the NS5A […]

---

November 7th, 2011

Can We All Agree That This Is Stupid? Thank You.

If this report isn’t an urban legend, then it’s pretty clear some people need a brain transplant: The Facebook group is called “Find a Pox Party in Your Area.” According to the group’s page, it is geared toward “parents who want their children to obtain natural immunity for the chicken pox.” …On the page, parents post […]

---

November 5th, 2011

A Mysteriosis about Listeriosis

For obvious reasons, listeriosis has been much in the news recently.  The latest information from CDC on the Colorado cantaloupe outbreak cites 139 cases and 29 deaths. The recent outbreak aside, however, actual cases of listeriosis are pretty rare. We easily could go months (or even over a year) in our hospital without seeing a single case, and […]

---