HIV and ID Observations

January 2nd, 2011

2011: A New Meaning for “Antiviral”

January 1, 2011 Dear Lake Superior State University, Clinicians are particularly concerned about this year’s “List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness“, as topping the list was the word, viral. One nominator said: Events, photographs, written pieces and even occasional videos that attracted a great deal of attention once were simply highly publicized, […]

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December 17th, 2010

Update on Berlin Patient II: Still Cured of HIV

First, who was Berlin Patient I? Second, over in the journal Blood is the latest update on Berlin Patient II, the guy apparently cured of HIV by bone marrow transplantation: We have previously reported the case of an HIV-infected patient in whom viral replication remained absent despite discontinuation of antiretroviral therapy after transplantation with CCR5Δ32/Δ32 stem cells…  In […]

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December 6th, 2010

Tough Diagnoses: Neurosyphilis, Then and Now

During Thanksgiving, my brother-in-law — who is a professional musician and also a passionate history buff — gave me a scholarly paper to review on the strange death of the famous American explorer Meriwether Lewis, of “Lewis and Clark” fame. The bottom line?  Lewis may well have had neurosyphilis — at least that’s the premise of the […]

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November 23rd, 2010

iPrEx: First-Ever PrEP Efficacy Study Published

It’s been quite the year (plus a month) for HIV prevention research. That glimmer of hope from the Thai vaccine trial.  The striking effect of HIV-treatment as prevention.  The positive results of the CAPRISA vaginal microbicide study, which were presented to rapturous applause this summer in Vienna. And today, the iPrEx study is published, which shows that giving TDF/FTC […]

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November 17th, 2010

Ferlater Antibiotics

In this absolutely hysterical, laugh-out-loud comedy routine, Mal Z. Lawrence describes a woman at a Catskill hotel, piling danish into her handbag. She calls them “ferlater danish” — as opposed to the ones she’s eating at breakfast, those are “fernow.” Did you ever have one of your patients request “ferlater” antibiotics?  That is, ask that you write […]

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November 12th, 2010

Tesamorelin is Approved

This just in from the FDA: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Egrifta (tesamorelin) to treat HIV patients with lipodystrophy, a condition in which excess fat develops in different areas of the body, most notably around the liver, stomach, and other abdominal organs. The condition is associated with many antiretroviral drugs used to treat HIV. […]

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November 7th, 2010

Welcome to the Click-Fest

Let me start by confessing I’m something of a gadget freak.  I was an early Palm Pilot adoptor, loved the iPod from the get-go, and need to avoid CNET, Engadget, Gizmodo, and David Pogue’s columns for the New York Times when deadlines loom. Not surprisingly, I embraced the shift to electronic medical records (EMRs) enthusiastically. While […]

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November 4th, 2010

XMRV and CFS: More Yay and Nay

Does XMRV cause Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?  Or more accurately, is it even associated with CFS? I’ve been putting off writing about this for a while, as I knew colleagues of mine had a paper in press on the topic, and I wanted the dust to settle a bit more on the controversy. But of course the controversy, […]

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October 7th, 2010

Post-Halladay Video Treat: Prospects for HIV Cure

For a little entertainment between playoff games — but how could anyone beat the guy in the picture? — you might want to check out this interview I did with Dan Kuritzkes about the prospects for an HIV cure. So which do you think we’ll see first — an HIV cure or a vaccine?  And I don’t mean an […]

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September 27th, 2010

CROI 2011: February 27-March 2, Boston

Yes, I know it’s already listed on the official web site. But since it’s in Boston, and since this post drove tons of internet traffic this way, why not cite it again? And let’s all hope that February here in 2011 is nothing like February 1978.  Nah, that couldn’t happen …

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