HIV and ID Observations

June 20th, 2009

More HIV in the Adult Film Industry (Maybe)

From the New York Times last week: Health officials in Los Angeles said Friday that 22 actors in adult sex movies had contracted HIV since 2004, when a previous outbreak led to efforts to protect pornography industry employees. (snip) Occupational health officials have long argued that failing to require that performers wear condoms during intercourse and other […]

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May 7th, 2009

Human Rabies from Bats: Another Look at the Numbers

The gang from Canada is at it again, reviewing human rabies cases from bats and trying to make some sense of the data. (For a summary of their outstanding prior paper in CID, read this.) But before we get to their latest masterwork, here are some questions to ponder.  While doing so, keep in mind the practice […]

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April 18th, 2009

Ceftriaxone and Calcium — OK Again in Adults!

As every house officer, hospitalist, intensivist, and ID doc knows, ceftriaxone and calcium have been contraindicated since 2007 due to fears of a potentially fatal precipitation of the two that led to the death of 5 neonates. Pediatricians are fond of saying “kids are not small adults” (I should know), and if that’s true, it’s even […]

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March 25th, 2009

March (Guideline) Madness …

A couple of interesting ID guidelines out this week.  For those of you too busy with basketball, here are the relevant links: Guidance for Control of Infections with Carbapenem-Resistant or Carbapenemase-Producing Enterobacteriaceae in Acute Care Facilities. Identified in 24 states and now found “routinely” in New York and New Jersey, these carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (“CPE” is much […]

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February 26th, 2009

Meningococcal Resistance to Ciprofloxacin

Ciprofloxacin-resistant Neisseria meningitidis has now been documented in the United States. Here’s a nice summary in Journal Watch, with two different perspectives. I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised, but it did take a while.  (At least compared to that other famous neisseria-bug, Neisseria gonorrhoeae.) Oh well. Why is this important?  As every practicing ID doc/primary care provider/public health […]

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February 11th, 2009

CROI 2010 Dates and Location Announced

February 16-20, 2010, San Francisco — at least according to John Mellors during his opening remarks here in Montreal. Is it really one day longer?  [Update — no, it’s Feb 17-20.] Really during the week of Presidents’ Day?  (School vacation week in New England … but I realize you can’t make everyone happy with schedules.) In other […]

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January 25th, 2009

Just Twenty Days Until Pitchers and Catchers Report …

As the temperature in Boston again falls below 10 degrees, my thoughts longingly turn to baseball — and how a  locally unpopular team is making a foray into the world of Infectious Diseases: The potential of a serious staph infection affecting a member of the team has not been lost on the New York Yankees. According […]

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January 17th, 2009

Salmonella, CDC, and How to Prevent a Cold

Today’s ID/HIV Link-o-Rama is being brought to you from the frozen tundra of Boston, MA: This past summer’s salmonella outbreak that sickened more than 1000 people was linked to raw jalapeno and serrano peppers.  In the current one, the suspected culprit is contaminated peanut butter.  Aside from the fact that raw hot peppers and peanut butter in […]

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December 23rd, 2008

Flu Resistance to Oseltamivir: The Bugs Win Again

I must admit, the recent report that 49 of the 50 H1N1 flu viruses tested by the CDC are resistant to oseltamivir caught me by surprise.  For the non-math majors among the readership, that’s a 98% resistance rate.  Yikes. Actually, the rate of resistance is so high that at first I didn’t believe it when my wife […]

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December 10th, 2008

Unintended Consequences of ART “Rollout”

According to this BBC article, teenagers in South Africa are grinding up antiretrovirals and then smoking them for their “hallucinogenic and relaxing effect”.  (Apologies for the pun on the title.) It’s impossible to tell with a report like this how widespread the practice is, but it’s potentially worrisome.  And no mention in the article which antivirals are being used, […]

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