HIV and ID Observations

August 23rd, 2018

Eye Worm, MALDI-TOF, New Lyme Testing Approach, Dogs Fail as C. diff Testers, Uiyk (?), and More — A Summer Is Getting Shorter ID Link-o-Rama

A recent chilly spell here in Boston recalled a universal truth about aging — that summer seems to get shorter every year. As far as I can tell in my unscientific poll of everyone who will engage with me on this topic, there are no exceptions to this rule. Everyone thinks summer is shorter than when […]

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August 12th, 2018

Apologies, Our E-Mail Notifications Are Not Reliably Going Out

Last week, I wrote something I really wanted my long-time friend and colleague, Susan Larrabee, to read. Susan is the HIV social worker-extraordinaire I’ve been working with for a million years, give or take a few. The piece covered how rewarding it is to care for people with HIV. If anyone could affirm that view, it’s Susan. […]

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August 5th, 2018

Why Caring for People with HIV Is Still Great

Earlier this year, I wrote a piece about friends and colleagues of mine who have left HIV clinical practice. Something about it touched a nerve. It’s one of the most commented-on pieces in the history of this blog. Read this for a typical response. Admittedly, it was kind of a downer — but it might have been […]

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July 29th, 2018

Really Rapid Review — International AIDS Conference 2018, Amsterdam

The International AIDS Conference — or “AIDS 2018” — returned to Amsterdam for the first time since 1992. It’s worth pausing, with gratitude, to remember that 26 years ago antiretroviral therapy consisted of three available drugs — zidovudine (AZT), didanosine (ddI), and zalcitabine (ddC). All were marginally effective, with limited durability and significant toxicity. In fact, the […]

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July 22nd, 2018

FDA Approves First PI-Based Single-Tablet Treatment for HIV — How Will It Be Used?

The latest HIV drug approval from the FDA came this past week with the release of a single-tablet treatment containing the following drugs: Darunavir (DRV) 800 mg Cobicistat (c) 150 mg Emtricitabine (FTC) 200 mg Tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) 10 mg Often abbreviated “DCF-TAF,” this is the first full treatment regimen in a single pill with a […]

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July 15th, 2018

On-Service Digest, July 2018 — with Special Section Just for Staph aureus

I’m currently on-service for the inpatient ID consult team, and this is July. At a teaching hospital.  Here’s where some would play scary music. After all, the interns and fellows have just started! YIKES! But no scary music for me — I love working with the July newbies. Because whatever they lack in experience or efficiency, they more than make up […]

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July 1st, 2018

Why Do Our Patients Think They Have Spider Bites?

We are currently in peak tick season here in the Northeastern United States. It might be hard for clinicians elsewhere to understand just how profoundly this changes our assessment of fevers and rashes. But consider this — ordering the trio of Lyme antibody, Anaplasma PCR, and Babesia PCR is as much a part of the routine […]

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June 24th, 2018

A Migrating Facial Worm, and Time to Vote for Your Favorite Cartoon Caption

Over on the New England Journal of Medicine, there’s a picture on the “Images in Clinical Medicine” series that’s getting quite a bit of attention. And it’s no wonder. This 32-year-old woman in Russia went to her ophthalmologist with a series of selfies she took over a 2-week period. The pictures demonstrated nodules (bumps) that moved around her […]

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June 17th, 2018

Remembering Robert H. (Bob) Rubin, Father of Transplant Infectious Diseases

During my ID fellowship, Robert (Bob) Rubin was my very first attending. It was the transplant service in July, and Bob and I would round with the surgeons each morning. Early each morning. That was part of it. We needed to be there with them, before they disappeared to the OR. If we weren’t there, he […]

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June 7th, 2018

What’s Your Favorite Off-Patent Antibiotic Brand Name?

Each time the FDA approves a new drug, they also approve a new brand name. The FDA and other regulators want something safe. They critically want to avoid names that sound or look similar to existing drugs, which could trigger medication errors. And names that imply an ingredient or an action not supported by clinical data […]

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