HIV and ID Observations

May 12th, 2013

FDA: Fecal Transplants Need Investigational New Drug Application

Gastroenterologists, ID doctors, C diff-sufferers, and microbiome-obsessed humanoids everywhere were treated to this surprising news recently — a decision by the FDA about fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT). From an email sent by the IDSA: Because fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is not approved for any therapeutic purposes, an investigational new drug (IND) application is needed for […]

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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!), […]

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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” […]

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April 25th, 2013

In Praise of the Diversity of Being an Infectious Diseases Specialist

I have a friend who is a thoracic surgeon. Imagine his daily agenda: 5:00 AM:  Oops, slept late. 5:30 AM:  Drive to hospital; not much traffic. 6:00 AM:  Round on inpatients. They’re all doing great! Wonder why they’re not more talkative. 6:15 AM:  Coffee, gossip with other surgeons. 7:00 AM:  Get in scrubs, prepare for […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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April 10th, 2013

Simeprevir and Sofosbuvir Submitted to FDA — Clock Ticking on Boceprevir, Telaprevir, Even Interferon

Two weeks, two companies, two press releases, two future HCV drugs that begin with “S”: March 28, 2013: Janssen Research & Development announced that it has submitted a New Drug Application to the FDA seeking approval for simeprevir (TMC435), an investigational NS3/4A protease inhibitor, administered as a 150 mg capsule once daily with pegylated interferon and ribavirin for […]

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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, […]

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April 2nd, 2013

Banner Day for ID on Physician’s First Watch, and a Big Pitch to Sign Up Now

Every weekday morning, right around the time the rest of my family gets up, the smart people at Physician’s First Watch send me an email listing the top medical news stories of the day. Imagine my delight yesterday when the following were deemed worthy for specific mention: Coccidioidomycosis! Valley fever cases on the rise in the […]

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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 […]

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