HIV and ID Observations

June 6th, 2012

A Fun Internet Poll for ID Nerds

Over on Medscape, one of my ID heroes, John Bartlett, has a new series called, “The Medscape Awards in Infectious Diseases” and it looks like a winner. Here’s how it works: The Medscape Awards in Infectious Diseases is a new series that will honor the greatest achievements in the field of infectious diseases during 1980-2012. John G. […]

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June 2nd, 2012

Cryptococcal Meningitis Study Stopped — Early HIV Therapy Clearly Harmful

From NIAID, an important clinical trial has been stopped early: The Phase IV study … was evaluating whether HIV-infected participants hospitalized with cryptococcal meningitis (CM) but not yet taking antiretroviral therapy (ART) would improve their chances of survival if they began ART while receiving CM treatment as inpatients compared with the standard practice of beginning ART […]

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May 30th, 2012

Little Fluffy Baby Chicks Spread Deadly Intestinal Infection

Sorry for the headline, but that was the first thing I thought of when reading this paper just published in the New England Journal of Medicine:   In this report, we describe a prolonged and ongoing multistate outbreak of human salmonella infections primarily affecting young children and linked to contact with live young poultry from […]

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May 25th, 2012

Generic Nevirapine Now Available — But the Big One is Next Year

As I’m sure you’ve heard from your patients — as I did — lamivudine (3TC) is now available generically. Now comes news of the release of several generic formulations of nevirapine (NVP), an effective but always somewhat overshadowed medication. Since its approval way back when in 1996, there has always been a solid reason to pick […]

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May 20th, 2012

News on HIV and HCV Testing, and in Praise of Accurate Screening Tests

Two recent news items reminded me how lucky we are to have some very accurate screening tests for certain infectious diseases. The news: An expert FDA panel backed approval of the first true home test for HIV, the OraQuick mouth swab test. Approval of OraQuick for home use may occur later this year. While home testing for […]

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May 16th, 2012

Azithromycin Linked to Cardiovascular Death — Not A Placebo After All

I’ve commented before about azithromycin, that remarkable antibiotic that clinicians seem to prescribe for, gosh, you-name-it. But a paper just published in the New England Journal of Medicine links use of azithromycin to an increased risk of cardiovascular death, a reminder that “azithro” is in fact a drug — and that all drugs have side effects. A […]

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May 7th, 2012

Difficulties and Differences on C difficile

Some things in our field — diseases, treatments, generalizations, cliches, fads — have really changed since back in the early 1990s, when I started in this business. Here are a few that quickly come to mind: “Double coverage” of pseudomonas with a beta lactam plus an aminoglycoside was de rigueur MRSA was an inpatient concern only You […]

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April 30th, 2012

Do We Really Need Primary Prophylaxis for OIs Anymore?

I’m currently on the inpatient consult service and just saw a guy who fits the typical profile of many hospitalized HIV patients in 2012: Low CD4 (in this case, 120) Irregular to non-existent outpatient care before admission (lots of no-shows, cancellations, etc) Has received several prescriptions for antiretroviral therapy but for a whole variety of reasons, hasn’t […]

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April 23rd, 2012

An Answer to a Commonly Asked Question: Is Treatment 100% Effective in Preventing HIV Transmission?

The excitement about “treatment as prevention”, and the results of Study 052, have led to many patients asking the question (if not in these words, than using others with a less medical slant), “So if I’m on treatment and doing well, just what is the risk of my transmitting HIV to others?” It’s not a question […]

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April 18th, 2012

Been There, Done That

I’d estimate the verisimilitude of the following video at approximately 100%: (Thanks to Raphy Landovitz for the link!)

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