An ongoing dialogue on HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases,
January 18th, 2015
Opposition to HCV Screening Raises a Few Interesting Points — But Has Some Really Wacky “Facts”
Over in the British Medical Journal, there’s a provocative editorial entitled, “Is widespread screening for hepatitis C justified?” Based on the title alone, you can guess the authors’ answer to that question — a resounding “No!” By taking this position, of course, they are opposing some very data-driven and well-respected arbiters of policy and clinical practice. These […]
January 7th, 2015
Are the STI Screening Guidelines for Gay Men Overkill? (And Pedro Video.)
Our “healthcare system” recently distributed a set of guidelines entitled, Primary care for gay men: screening and treatment recommendations. It included, among other things, recommendations for screening for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and anal cancer. The former it adopted from CDC guidelines, which are this this: Screening at least once a year for syphilis, chlamydia, and gonorrhea […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Paul E. Sax, MD
Contributing Editor
NEJM Journal Watch
Infectious Diseases
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