HIV and ID Observations

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, […]

---

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 […]

---

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, […]

---

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 […]

---

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 […]

---

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 […]

---

October 13th, 2015

Yes, There Are Important HIV Studies at ICAAC and IDWeek — Here’s One

Both ICAAC and IDWeek (formerly IDSA) are now over, IDWeek ending this past Sunday. These are the two large Infectious Diseases scientific meetings that take place each year in the Fall. They’ve been battling it out for years for attendance, but it looks like finally IDWeek (formerly IDSA) has won the Fall slot — ICAAC is moving next year to […]

---

October 7th, 2015

The Future of Diagnostic Microbiology, in 17 Minutes!

Over at Open Forum Infectious Diseases, I had the pleasure to interview Dr. Angela Caliendo about the latest advances in diagnostic microbiology. She touches on molecular testing in general, rapid pathogen identification (especially with MALDI-TOF, everyone’s favorite acronym), “syndromic” diagnostic testing for respiratory infections and diarrhea, use of Xpert for TB even here in the United States, […]

---

October 1st, 2015

WHO Decision to Recommend Treatment for All with HIV an Easy One — Now Comes the Hard Part

In the newspaper today — and yes, we still do get it delivered (some habits die hard) — is this headline: Millions More Need H.I.V. Treatment, W.H.O. Says It’s true — these updated guidelines say that all should be treated soon after diagnosis, regardless of CD4 cell count or whether they have symptoms. Now, a certain non-ID doctor […]

---

September 24th, 2015

Decision to Lower Price of Pyrimethamine a Good One, Especially Given the Weak Defense of the Price Hike

The big ID story the past couple of weeks is that the price of pyrimethamine — a drug that’s been available generically for decades — went from $13.50 to $750 for one pill after the exclusive rights to the drug were purchased by Turing Pharmaceuticals. Now, after a barrage of criticism — all the way from this […]

---