HIV and ID Observations

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 […]

---

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. […]

---

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 […]

---

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 […]

---

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 […]

---

April 2nd, 2013

Banner Day for ID on Physician’s First Watch, and a Big Pitch to Sign Up Now

Every weekday morning, right around the time the rest of my family gets up, the smart people at Physician’s First Watch send me an email listing the top medical news stories of the day. Imagine my delight yesterday when the following were deemed worthy for specific mention: Coccidioidomycosis! Valley fever cases on the rise in the USA. You […]

---

March 28th, 2013

Poll: How Often Do You Measure CD4 Cell Counts?

Over in Clinical Infectious Diseases, a recent study pretty much nails the fact that routine measurement of CD4 cell counts in clinically stable patients is an all but useless exercise.  As summarized by Abbie Zuger in Journal Watch, here’s the key finding: When patients with an unrelated cause for an alteration in CD4-cell count such as […]

---

March 23rd, 2013

ID Doctors, Pets in the Medical History, and a Cute Puppy

One of the things Infectious Disease doctors get teased about by our non-ID colleagues is our inclusion of pets in medical histories. It’s part of the social history, where we list a grab bag of  potential “exposures” that increase the risk of infection — where someone is from, what they do, plus travel, dietary practices, sex, […]

---

March 10th, 2013

Really Rapid Review — CROI 2013, Atlanta

As noted previously by Carlos del Rio in his nice summary, the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) turned 20 this year. It also made it’s first-ever stop in Atlanta, home of many things that begin with “C” — CDC (note that insiders rarely say, “the CDC”), CNN, Coca Cola, and Carlos himself. I’ll spare […]

---

March 5th, 2013

Exploring the Media Fascination with the Baby Cured of HIV

As undoubtedly you’ve heard by now, there’s another person cured of HIV out there — this time, it’s a baby born to an HIV-infected mother. Here’s the story: The mother didn’t know she was HIV positive until delivery, and the baby was found to be infected by both HIV DNA and RNA right at birth. […]

---