HIV and ID Observations

October 30th, 2024

The Riveting Conclusion of How PCP Became PJP

Before I get back to the saga of Brave New Name — How PCP Became PJP and Why It Matters, allow me to share that I had some trepidation about publishing this thing. A deep dive down a hole with very high-risk for tularemia exposure (see what I did there?), it veered off topic more than half-baked […]

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October 22nd, 2024

Brave New Name — How PCP Became PJP and Why It Matters

In the pre-E**n M**k era of the site then known at Twitter, I posted a poll about a very important debate in clinical Infectious Diseases: That’s right. Nearly 900 people took the time, energy, and clicks to weigh in on the critical question of what to abbreviate the well-known opportunistic infection in immunocompromised hosts. Fifteen […]

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September 19th, 2024

How Electronic Health Records Tyrannize Doctors — ID Doctors in Particular

A paper just appeared in the Journal of General Internal Medicine entitled “National Comparison of Ambulatory Physician Electronic Health Record Use Across Specialties.” The goal of the study was to track clinician workload by specialty, divided into various functions — documentation, chart review, orders, inbox. Importantly, there was no gaming the system. By using Epic’s built-in […]

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September 6th, 2024

Five Reflections after Attending on General Medicine This Year

Here are five things that occurred to me after a stint on General Medicine this year, where (per our department’s wise policy), I was paired with an experienced and excellent hospitalist to oversee two medical residents, three interns, and two medical students. #1:  Energy. Medical house officers radiate positive energy. Yes, it was summertime, and motivations […]

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July 25th, 2024

Lenacapavir PrEP Trial Brings Down the House at the International AIDS Conference

Yesterday, at the 2024 AIDS Conference in Munich, we experienced one of those thrilling moments you always hope for when attending a scientific conference. Dr. Linda-Gail Bekker, speaking on behalf of the study investigators, presented the data on the PURPOSE-1 study of HIV prevention using twice-yearly injectable lenacapavir; results were simultaneously published in the New England […]

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July 14th, 2024

Should We Continue to Use Contact Precautions for Patients with MRSA?

Back in the early 2000s, I heard about a local hospital that eliminated contact precautions while caring for patients with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). No more required gowns and gloves, or warning signs on the doors, or private rooms for patients known to have MRSA. They planned to track MRSA cases carefully over the next […]

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June 20th, 2024

Early Heatwave ID Link-o-Rama

We’ll get to the links in a moment, but first, a little poll. You might have heard that there’s a new Editor-in-Chief at NEJM Journal Watch, Dr. Raja-Elie Abdulnour. We met recently, and discussed this column or blog or newsletter or whatever you want to call it. A topic came up that we’ve been wondering about […]

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June 9th, 2024

The Mysteries and Challenges of the RPR — and a Proposed Clinical Trial

Last week, we had a real treat for our weekly ID/HIV clinical conference — a review of controversies in the management of syphilis in adults by Dr. Khalil Ghanem, from Johns Hopkins. He’s a well-known expert in the field of sexually transmitted infections, syphilis in particular. A highlight of the talk was his dismantling of a […]

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May 11th, 2024

Just in Time for Mother’s Day, Some Admiration and Gratitude

As I’ve written here before, I’m in awe of my mother — a smart woman who doesn’t celebrate Mother’s Day. So in place of celebrating, I’m going to use the holiday anyway as an excuse to share an event that highlights her strengths and resourcefulness. It has an ID theme eventually, so stick around to the end. […]

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April 26th, 2024

Hey, Insurance Companies and Pharmacies — Stop Messing Around with the Price of Cheap Generic Drugs

If you’re practicing medicine these days, you’ve likely experienced some version of this painfully annoying scenario. You prescribe a generic medication, one that’s inexpensive. Your patient goes to the pharmacy, and the pharmacist says that it requires a prior approval. They leave without getting their meds. Here’s a recent example from one of my patients (details […]

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