HIV and ID Observations

November 29th, 2015

Flu Vaccine Keeps Taking Hits, Still the Best We’ve Got — Don’t Stop “Belivin'” [sic]

For reasons understood only by the geniuses in Mountain View, CA, for some reason my Google news feed picked up this bit of “scientific” reporting: Let me allow the author, an unfortunately named “Clapway” (gonorrhea researcher?), to speak for him/herself: However, is the flu vaccine really worth it? The author of this article never takes it and […]

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November 26th, 2015

Five (OK, Six) ID/HIV Things to be Grateful for this Holiday Season, 2015 Edition

Some quick ID/HIV gratitude items for 2015, done rapidly as we’re hosting a big meal later today. I wonder what that might be. New Ebola virus disease cases and deaths have dramatically declined. I write that sentence with some trepidation, as cases continue to occur sporadically, and this late relapse in a nurse was a chilling reminder of […]

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November 22nd, 2015

Just Wondering: Quick ID Questions to Consider

Several quick ID queries, some of them answerable on the Google machine — but I’m not going there. Too busy laundering my white coat! What ever happened to amphotericin A? What’s the difference between a “serovar” and a “serotype”? Do dogs feel bad that Pasteurella multocida is more famous than Capnocytophaga canimorsus? Colistin resistance is bad — but how often does colistin actually work […]

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November 18th, 2015

Are There Remaining Challenges in HCV Therapy?

Prompted by (yet more) spectacular HCV study results, I posted the following questions on Twitter: Is velpatasvir/sofosbuvir the endgame for HCV? And what will HCV researchers do now? https://t.co/vL2A9FOttR @NEJM — Paul Sax (@PaulSaxMD) November 18, 2015 To which I got this reply from one of our very energetic second-year ID fellows: @PaulSaxMD @NEJM what about coinfected patients, […]

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November 15th, 2015

Speechless

Friday, November 13, 2015, late afternoon. This time of year, in Boston, it feels like early evening, but the clock says it’s only a bit after 4pm. I log onto our electronic health record to check for lab results and patient messages, and get this: There it is, the “Message of the Day”, complete with the this-is-important exclamation point, […]

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November 8th, 2015

New HIV Treatment “ECF-TAF” is Really All About the “TAF” Part

HIV providers and patients recently got this news from the FDA: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Genvoya (a fixed-dose combination tablet containing elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine, and tenofovir alafenamide) as a complete regimen for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in adults and pediatric patients 12 years of age and older. (Disclosure:  I have been […]

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November 1st, 2015

Should Doctors Still Be Allowed to Wear White Coats? You Decide

If you’re not immersed in the ID or the Infection Control world, you might not be aware that there’s currently quite the controversy about whether doctors should wear white coats. I almost wrote “raging controversy” — but the adjective “raging” doesn’t really fit the sort of people who specialize in Infection Control, who are some of the most measured, […]

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October 29th, 2015

The Most Important HIV Study at IDWeek 2015

After reporting my choice for the most important HIV study at ICAAC, I received this email from a colleague: If that’s the most important study, I really didn’t miss much … Now she has notoriously high standards — hard to impress her — but her opinion notwithstanding, I still think the STRIIVING study has some important messages we can apply […]

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October 24th, 2015

Pumpkin-Flavored ID Link-o-Rama

As the leaves change colors and fall from the trees, the days grow shorter and colder, and pumpkin-colored and flavored merchandise shows up everywhere, I ask you this important question: What precisely are the infectious risks of bobbing for apples? Off we go. Receiving antibiotics in childhood is associated with weight gain. The important finding in this study is that the […]

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October 17th, 2015

Dear Flu Vaccine: Please Improve!

Dear Flu Vaccine, As the supply of you and your brethren have arrived in our clinics, on our hospital floors, and in pharmacies, I thought it would be a good time to reach out and tell you how to get better. That’s right — here, free of charge, is  a to-do list for how you can improve. Understand, I’m one of your top […]

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