HIV and ID Observations

December 12th, 2018

Two Weeks of Attending on the ID Consult Service, with One-A-Day ID Learning Units

For those of us who don’t do inpatient medicine all the time, the “blocks” doing inpatient Infectious Diseases consults are a stark reminder of just how complex and challenging the case material can be. Think about it — if a hospitalized patient has a straightforward ID problem, we are not getting involved. No one consults ID […]

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November 25th, 2018

Does Experiencing Childhood Illness Make Someone Stronger? How One Person Turned Adversity into Remarkable Success

Many people growing up with chronic illness become resilient. Whether it’s Crohn’s Disease, or cystic fibrosis, or diabetes, or the sequelae of an accident, or whatever condition they have, they impressively live their life just like the rest of us — occasionally regressing or slowing down only during a flare of the illness. But then there’s an […]

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November 18th, 2018

HIV and HCV Treatment, Shorter Antibiotic Courses, Malaria-Sniffing Dogs, and Other ID and HIV Reasons to Be Grateful, 2018 Edition

As noted here before, I’m a big fan of Thanksgiving, a great excuse to get together with family and friends, and to eat a gargantuan amount of food.* (*On this last point, non-U.S. citizens will wonder how this differs from any other time we “Americans” get together. Indeed, we are the Land of Giant Portions. Ever eat […]

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October 28th, 2018

New Flu Drug Offers Convenience, Fast Activity, and a Novel Mechanism — at a Price

Last week, the FDA approved a new drug for treatment of influenza, baloxavir marboxil (Xofluza). The drug is indicated for treatment of symptomatic influenza in patients 12 years of age or older. As with existing treatments, it should be started within 48 hours of symptom onset. In a comparative clinical trial in otherwise healthy outpatients, baloxavir and oseltamivir […]

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October 15th, 2018

Outpatient Antibiotic Prescribing Boosts Patient Satisfaction Scores, Rewarding Bad Medical Practice

A recent study confirms what every busy clinician already knows. Many patients seeking care for respiratory infections expect to receive an antibiotic. When they get one, they’re happier than if they don’t. Among 8437 patients seeking care for a respiratory tract infection in a direct-to-consumer telemedicine service, 66% received an antibiotic. The rate of prescriptions prescribed by […]

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October 8th, 2018

“Mini”-Really Rapid Review — IDWeek 2018, San Francisco

Once upon a time, the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) wasn’t much of a research conference. It consisted mostly of review sessions on topics deemed worthy of an update or a refresher, led by noted experts in the field. They would cite the latest literature on endocarditis, or mycoplasma, or prosthetic […]

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October 2nd, 2018

Winner of Latest Cartoon Contest Proves Again That We ID Specialists Are a Different Breed

It is with a mixture of professional pride and embarrassment that I hereby present the winner of our last ID Cartoon Caption Contest: Yikes. Talk about inside jokes. Though the second-place finisher “Ah, no, I prescribed the AEROSOLIZED, not PARASOL-ized form” mounted a late charge, the geeky reference to Listeria monocytogenes and its “umbrella motility” held out for the win. […]

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September 23rd, 2018

Picking Your Next ID Journal Club Paper? MERINO or POET Trial? Two ID Fellows Debate

Late afternoon/early evening at an academic medical center. Bright young doctors sit in a hospital workroom, putting the finishing touches on what are undoubtedly the most comprehensive and, yes, simply the best consult notes in their respective patient’s electronic medical records.  Best ever. ID Fellow #1:  Hey, pretty soon we have to do Journal Club, right? ID […]

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September 16th, 2018

Supermarket Chain CEO Defends High Prices of Water, Salt, and Other Items as a “Moral” Requirement

Inspired by recent events in antibiotic pricing. SACRAMENTO, CA. The head of a national supermarket chain is defending a recent substantial increase in the price of water, salt, and other food and kitchen essentials, arguing that this change is the equivalent of a “moral” requirement. Last month, iFoods Plus Stores announced that common low-cost items such as […]

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September 9th, 2018

Doravirine Sets a New Standard for NNRTIs — But What Role in HIV Treatment Today?

The HIV drug class called “non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors,” or NNRTIs, must have something of an inferiority complex. First, anything defined by what it is not is already in trouble. Believe me, hepatitis C was thrilled when it could shed the “non-A, non-B hepatitis” label. Second, despite their high antiviral potency and good tolerability, the NNRTIs have […]

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