HIV and ID Observations

August 1st, 2013

Poll: Will There Be A Shortage of HIV Providers?

Over on NEJM Journal Watch — love that new name — I reviewed a paper on the demographics of people living with AIDS in San Francisco. Bottom line — more than half are now older than 50. Implication — that’s so old! First, it really isn’t, unless you compare it to the dismal era 20+ […]

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July 23rd, 2013

Guess it Wasn’t the Acyclovir After All

Big news in baseball land is that superstar Ryan Braun has been suspended for the rest of the season for using performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). And why is this information in an Infectious Diseases blog? Three main reasons: When Braun first got nabbed for PEDs in 2011, it was widely rumored it had something to […]

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July 20th, 2013

There’s No US News & World Report Infectious Diseases Ranking — Is That A Good Thing?

As the internet burns through traditional print media, decimating anything paper in its path, several odd things have happened beyond simply putting those newspapers, magazines, and journals out of business. For example, Gourmet was subsumed into Bon Appetit — who could have predicted that? PLoS One and its ilk were born. And what about the […]

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July 3rd, 2013

First Year ID Fellows — What Do They Learn, and What Do They Hate?

In the weird calendar of academic medical centers, July 1 is the “official” first day of school. In our ID program, however, we shifted it to July 5 a few years ago to avoid the interruption of the July 4 holiday at the beginning of the year. On July 3 — today — our incoming […]

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June 27th, 2013

Testing Out the New Website with an ID Link-o-Rama

Hey, new website is live! Interested to hear what you think about our new-ish look. In celebration, here are some quick ID/HIV tidbits that have recently crossed my path, or have been sitting in my inbox for a while, dying to get out: Doxycycline shortage. Hardly anything more frightening to a New England ID doc than […]

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June 19th, 2013

FDA, IND, FMT: Nine Letters, Some Common Sense, and a Real Video Link

Good news here — the FDA has reconsidered their requirement for an IND for fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) for C diff: Some health care providers have stated that applying IND requirements will make FMT unavailable and have suggested that an alternative regulatory approach is needed to ensure the widespread availability of FMT for individuals with […]

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June 11th, 2013

Both Simeprevir and Sofosbuvir Likely Approved by 2014 — Clinical/Ethical/Pharmacoeconomic Dilemmas Loom

As expected, simeprevir, and now also sofosbuvir, are being given “priority review” by the FDA. With the 6-month rule under the Prescription Drug User Fee Act — usually just said as “pah-DOOF-ah” — that means there’s a good chance we’ll have both of these anti-HCV drugs some time in late 2013. Which also means HCV treaters […]

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June 6th, 2013

ID Learning Unit — Aminoglycosides

You young whippersnappers out there may not believe it, but we once used aminoglycosides all the time — literally every day on inpatient medical and surgical services, especially in the ICUs. They were an inevitable part of “triples” (e.g., amp/gent/clinda), a broad-spectrum combination given to almost every critically ill patient way back when — think right […]

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May 31st, 2013

Fecal Microbiota Transplantation — Try This At Home?

As noted before, the FDA says that an investigational new drug (IND) application is required for therapeutic use of fecal microbiota transplantation. The practical effect of this decision, at least at our institution, is to stop providing this service — it’s on hold pending those “internal discussions” planned by the FDA on the regulatory issues surrounding the […]

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May 29th, 2013

The New SARS-Like Coronavirus (MERS-CoV), and What To Do When You Don’t Know Anything About The Latest Outbreak

From one of my close friends — a non-MD — comes this alarming video (sorry, can’t remove the preceding ad). And here’s his email: Concerned? Terrified? I bet your department is buzzing about this. Um, not quite — especially since, among the 49 cases in the world (apparently there are 5 more than the WHO reported), […]

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