An ongoing dialogue on HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases,
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!), […]
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, […]
April 23rd, 2013
Two Papers, Four Sofosbuvir Studies, and Soon the End of “Interferonologists”
Today, as the The International Liver Congress is about to start, two papers are published in the New England Journal of Medicine on sofosbuvir, the investigational anti-HCV nucleotide submitted to the FDA for approval earlier this month. Each paper actually includes within them two studies. (For some reason, all the studies sound like 1950s science fiction magazines.) […]
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 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 […]
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 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. […]
March 3rd, 2013
It’s Not Safe Sex If You’ve Just Had the Smallpox Vaccine
One of my more memorable teachers used to love warning us about the hazards of sex. No, this wasn’t in my 8th grade health class — this was during my first year of Infectious Diseases fellowship, and the teacher was one of our highly experienced attending physicians, now retired. To him, sex carried limitless infectious risks. He […]
February 28th, 2013
Guest Post: CROI at 20 — A Look Back
The inimitable Carlos del Rio looks back at our premier scientific meeting, the annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), which starts this Sunday: CROI, which started as a small national conference held in a hotel in Washington DC, will hold its 20th meeting this year . When CROI first took place, we had just returned from Berlin, and HIV scientists […]
Paul E. Sax, MD
Contributing Editor
NEJM Journal Watch
Infectious Diseases
Biography | Disclosures | Summaries
Learn more about HIV and ID Observations.
NEJM Journal Watch — Recent Infectious Disease Articles- Observations from ID and Beyond: Federal HIV Guidelines Face a Shutdown — A Critical Loss for Clinicians and Patients
- Ceftriaxone for Patients Hospitalized with Pneumonia: One Gram or Two?
- More PrEP, Less HIV: U.S. State Data
- Observations from ID and Beyond: Why the Sudden Firing of ACIP Members Should Put Every Clinician on High Alert
- Does HIV RNA Testing to Monitor PrEP Add Value?