HIV and ID Observations

December 30th, 2014

Common Curbsides: The Patient with “Recurrent Zoster”

Just in time for the New Year celebration, here’s a curbside consult I’ve received several times, probably because the answer isn’t in most textbooks. As usual, the actual question is slightly edited, as well as lightly (and affectionately) annotated: Hey Paul — Quick question [of course] — I have a patient with a history of irritable bowel, otherwise well, […]

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December 20th, 2014

New HCV Option Effective, Safe, Well-Tolerated — And Use Will Likely Be Driven by Payors

As expected, the FDA approved the next treatment option for HCV on Friday — “Viekira Pak”, a (sometimes complete) regimen consisting of ritonavir-booted parataprevir and ombitasvir given as a two pills once a day, plus one pill of of dasabuvir given twice daily. It is indicated for treatment of HCV genotype 1. For those of you mechanistically inclined, parataprevir […]

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December 14th, 2014

2014 Top Stories in HIV Medicine

Boy do we love end-of-year “Best of …” and “Top Stories of …” lists! Love them! They never gets old! Until January, that is. My own particular favorites are the Best Movies of the Year lists, since for whatever reason it always seems like some masterpiece slips by. Missed it! So we leave it up to the […]

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December 6th, 2014

Holiday Season 2014 ID/HIV Link-O-Rama

A little spin around the internet brings us these ID/HIV tidbits, all of them designed to go well with holiday music, egg nog, and potato pancakes, plus a can’t-miss video clip: Flu vaccine match with circulating virus doesn’t look so great. This could mean it’s going to be a tough flu season, but estimates of flu […]

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December 2nd, 2014

CROI 2016 Dates Announced — You Read That Right — and What Will We Be Talking About Then?

As any HIV/ID specialist knows, the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, or CROI, is one of our very best (I think it’s the best) HIV scientific conferences, bringing together basic and clinical researchers for several days each winter in some cold, North American city for high-minded, scholarly pursuit. But it has historically had a peculiar habit […]

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November 23rd, 2014

Five ID/HIV Things to be Grateful for this Holiday Season, 2014 Edition

Amidst outbreak hysterias, anti-vaccine imbecility, electronic medical record whining, and slug-related eosinophilia, I bring you this year’s version of the good news — the 2014 edition of Five ID/HIV Things to be Grateful for this Holiday Season, just in time for your holiday turkeys. (Needless to say, the bird will be properly cooked to ensure it’s salmonella-free, with all cooking […]

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November 16th, 2014

Electronic Medical Records and the Demise of the Useful Medical Note

Electronic medical records (EMRs) are much on my mind, as last week at Medical Grand Rounds Robert (Bob) Wachter, chief of the medical service at UCSF, gave a brilliant talk on the unanticipated consequences of our move towards what he calls the “Digital Doctor.” Bob has thought a lot about this issue, so much so that he’s about to […]

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November 10th, 2014

Common Curbsides: The Tuberculin Skin Test and IGRA That Don’t Agree

Here’s one I’ve received twice in the past week, plus my answer. As always, names/some details changed to protect patient confidentiality, plus my annotations in brackets/italics. Hey Paul, Quick question [Need I even comment about the “quick question” phrase, and how this unintentionally devalues what ID docs do? OK, I’ve commented, and yes I’m hypersensitive] — one of my […]

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October 30th, 2014

Why the IPERGAY (Yes, That’s Its Name) Study Could Substantially Increase Use of PrEP

Yesterday, the French IPERGAY study of intermittent pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) was stopped early by the Data Safety Monitoring Board, and for the best reason — the evidence demonstrating that it prevented HIV was overwhelming. For those who read French, here’s the official announcement. (Scroll down for the English.) And for those who can’t believe the name, it stands […]

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October 27th, 2014

IDSA Opposes Mandatory Quarantine of Healthcare Workers, and Andy Borowitz Is A Very Funny Person

From the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA): Strategies to limit the potential for Ebola virus disease transmission from returning healthcare and humanitarian aid workers as well as from other travelers should be based on the best available medical, scientific and epidemiological evidence; be proportional to the risk; balance the rights of individuals and the community; minimize […]

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