HIV and ID Observations

May 29th, 2013

The New SARS-Like Coronavirus (MERS-CoV), and What To Do When You Don’t Know Anything About The Latest Outbreak

From one of my close friends — a non-MD — comes this alarming video (sorry, can’t remove the preceding ad). And here’s his email: Concerned? Terrified? I bet your department is buzzing about this. Um, not quite — especially since, among the 49 cases in the world (apparently there are 5 more than the WHO reported), exactly zero […]

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May 21st, 2013

ID Learning Unit — “Isolator” Blood Cultures

Here’s a little secret about those brilliant ID consults we do on patients with mysterious fevers: Sometimes we don’t know what’s going on either. I know, I know — shocking. But now that the secret is out, I can tell you something we do know, and that’s how to recommend lots of tests — the more obscure, […]

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May 16th, 2013

ID Learning Unit — Antibiotics with Excellent Oral Absorption

Guaranteed:  Every day at a hospital near you, a patient is receiving antibiotic therapy for an infection, and the orders include the following: A slew of various oral medications, both continued from outpatient care and started anew on admission. An intravenous antibiotic. The odd thing about this combination is that there are many antibiotics with excellent […]

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May 8th, 2013

HIV Opportunistic Infection Guidelines Updated

Some very hard-working folks at the NIH, CDC, and IDSA have updated the Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Opportunistic Infections in HIV-Infected Adults and Adolescents, which are available for review here. As with the previous versions (the prior iteration is from 2009), the OI Guidelines are comprehensive, exhaustively referenced (184 references for TB alone!), […]

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May 2nd, 2013

How to Interpret Medical Breakthroughs in the Mainstream Media

There it is, right in your daily paper, on your tablet or computer screen, or wherever you get your news today — a headline about a great medical breakthrough everyone’s been waiting for: Scientists on brink of HIV cure Researchers believe that there will be a breakthrough in finding a cure for HIV “within months” Yes, […]

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April 29th, 2013

Data Safety Monitoring Board Closes HIV Vaccine Study — the End of Adenovirus as a Vaccine Vector?

On Friday, the NIH announced that HVTN 505, a clinical trial of an HIV vaccine using an adenovirus vector, would be stopped based on a finding of futility by an independent DSMB. The study had enrolled some 2500 high-risk gay men in the United States. Here are the three key findings leading to this action: New infections in […]

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April 25th, 2013

In Praise of the Diversity of Being an Infectious Diseases Specialist

I have a friend who is a thoracic surgeon. Imagine his daily agenda: 5:00 AM:  Oops, slept late. 5:30 AM:  Drive to hospital; not much traffic. 6:00 AM:  Round on inpatients. They’re all doing great! Wonder why they’re not more talkative. 6:15 AM:  Coffee, gossip with other surgeons. 7:00 AM:  Get in scrubs, prepare for first case. […]

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April 20th, 2013

Postexposure Prophylaxis (PEP) After Blast Injuries

From a colleague came this query: We are being consulted by surgeons who are finding within blast victims tissues from other humans. We have been offering post-exposure prophylaxis. Have you folks developed any policies re PEP for explosion victims? Welcome your thoughts, P Needless to say, the bombing victims are currently facing far greater challenges than […]

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April 10th, 2013

Simeprevir and Sofosbuvir Submitted to FDA — Clock Ticking on Boceprevir, Telaprevir, Even Interferon

Two weeks, two companies, two press releases, two future HCV drugs that begin with “S”: March 28, 2013: Janssen Research & Development announced that it has submitted a New Drug Application to the FDA seeking approval for simeprevir (TMC435), an investigational NS3/4A protease inhibitor, administered as a 150 mg capsule once daily with pegylated interferon and ribavirin for the […]

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April 5th, 2013

Another “Important Advance” in HIV Vaccine Research?

On reading this other real news about a single patient and how it may shape the future of HIV vaccine research, I decided to write the following fake news, drawing liberally on many similar stories over the years: Scientists today reported a discovery that could finally pave the way for an effective AIDS vaccine. In the study, published […]

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