HIV and ID Observations

February 7th, 2013

Ciguatera Is Hot (But It Could Be Cold)

The news about the cases of ciguatera fish poisoning in New York (NY Times here, MMWR here) reminded me of several unusual things about this form of “harmful algal bloom,” as it is so artfully called by the experts. Specifically, here are six: Symptoms are bizarre.  It starts out like a standard case of gastroenteritis — nausea […]

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January 30th, 2013

“So You Think You’re an HIV Expert?”

I’ve been working with the folks over at Clinical Care Options (in particular, Elaine Seeskin) on a program entitled, “So You Think You’re an HIV Expert”, and it was just released here. It’s a series of quick interactive case presentations, and thanks to some nifty programming and great questions submitted by my colleagues Drs. Daar, […]

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January 21st, 2013

Must-Read Piece: “Fever of Too Many Origins”

Every so often a commentary gets something just right, and fortunately we have an example in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine. Entitled “Fever of Unknown Origin or Fever of Too Many Origins?”, it’s the best depiction I’ve read about doing ID consults in the intensive care unit (ICU). The author, Harold Horowitz (who has practiced […]

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January 17th, 2013

Why the Results of the C Diff Study (You Know Which One) Were No Surprise

In cased you missed it, fecal transplant — use of poop from a healthy donor, which is then infused into the colon either from above (nasogastric tube) or below (colonoscope) — is unquestionably the most effective treatment for people who have multiple recurrences of C. difficile colitis (C diff). We know this because of a randomized […]

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January 11th, 2013

How to Make the Flu Vaccine More Popular, Warts and All

In a week that saw both our hospital’s influenza-induced bed crunch make the New York Times, and my son, mother-in-law, and me succumb to this seasonal plague despite our receiving flu shots, I have been highly attuned to all things influenza. But the focus here will be on that perennial whipping boy of preventive Infectious Diseases, the […]

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January 1st, 2013

HIV Incidence: The Latest Numbers

The CDC has recently issued the latest report on HIV incidence (i.e., new infections) in the United States, and as always it’s fascinating to review the numbers. To start, the year-by-year estimated incidence: 2007:  53,200 2008:  47,500 2009:  45,000 2010:  47,500 (38,000 men, 9,500 women) Nope, not much change. Will data from HPTN 052 — published in the […]

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December 22nd, 2012

Chaos in the Diagnosis of C diff, and Dogs are Amazing Creatures

If you’re confused about the best way to diagnose C diff these days, welcome to the club. There are all kinds of tests out there, and no uniform approach between labs. Our lab actually does three tests — and will do a fourth (the classic cytotoxicity assay) if you request it. The result? Chaos, confusion, and […]

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December 20th, 2012

Severe Telaprevir Rashes and Waiting (or Not Waiting) to Treat Hepatitis C

Yesterday, the FDA issued a drug safety alert about severe rashes — “some fatal” — in patients treated for HCV with interferon, ribavirin, and telaprevir. The culprit, of course, is the telaprevir. The label already contained warning information about serious skin rashes with the drug, and this alert serves to heighten our awareness of the problem, […]

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December 17th, 2012

On Service — But Some Works in Progress

When several of my colleagues attend on the inpatient consult service, they turn on an “out of office” message that provides an automated e-mail reply that goes something  like this: I am currently attending on the inpatient consult service. During this busy time, I may not be able to respond to email in a timely fashion. […]

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December 5th, 2012

Top HIV Stories of 2012

Somewhere in our genome, we are programmed to use the end of the year as a time to reflect on the previous 12 months — and to make lists! If you don’t believe me, there’s barely a publication or web site out there that hasn’t already succumbed, and we’re just in early December. And what we can […]

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