An ongoing dialogue on HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases,
January 28th, 2011
Wow, That Was Fast: PrEP Guidelines Appear
With the ink barely dry on iPrEx — still tricky to type — along come “interim” guidelines from the CDC on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Based on the results [iPrEx], CDC and other U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) agencies have begun to develop PHS guidelines on the use of PrEP for MSM at high risk for […]
January 26th, 2011
Insurance Company Cheese Shop Redux
I had an interesting exchange with one of our nurses this week about a long-term patient of ours. The e-mails went something like this: Got a fax from —-‘s insurance that his Lipitor won’t be covered anymore. They will cover simvastatin, lovastatin, and pravastatin. Let me know what you want to do. Charlie He’s on […]
January 11th, 2011
Revised DHHS Guidelines, and Some Thoughts on Guidelines in General
As another major snow storm barrels in on us, you might have time over the next 24-48 hours to make some hot chocolate, throw some logs on the fire, and read the spanking-new 2011 Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) HIV Treatment Guidelines, just posted here on the AIDSinfo web site. (Disclosure: I’m on […]
January 2nd, 2011
2011: A New Meaning for “Antiviral”
January 1, 2011 Dear Lake Superior State University, Clinicians are particularly concerned about this year’s “List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness“, as topping the list was the word, viral. One nominator said: Events, photographs, written pieces and even occasional videos that attracted a great deal of attention once […]
December 22nd, 2010
Holiday Hafnias
Some items to consider in HIV/ID world as you dig into your salmonella-free holiday bird: Drug label change for stavudine (d4T): The label no longer has recommendations for dose-reduction in case of peripheral neuropathy, and cites data more strongly linking d4T use to lipoatrophy. The strategy of decreasing the dose to reduce d4T toxicity hasn’t […]
December 17th, 2010
Update on Berlin Patient II: Still Cured of HIV
First, who was Berlin Patient I? Second, over in the journal Blood is the latest update on Berlin Patient II, the guy apparently cured of HIV by bone marrow transplantation: We have previously reported the case of an HIV-infected patient in whom viral replication remained absent despite discontinuation of antiretroviral therapy after transplantation with CCR5Δ32/Δ32 […]
December 13th, 2010
My (Second) Favorite Journal Switches Publishers
I absolutely love the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. It’s easily my second-favorite journal. (Can you guess my favorite? Perhaps this new “About this blog” section will give you a hint.) But back to CID — here’s why I love it: Great content. Seems every issue has fascinating studies, usually of great clinical relevance to the […]
December 9th, 2010
Chronic Lyme Tough to Diagnose, Tough to Treat
Over at the Chicago Tribune, there is this superb review of the Chronic Lyme disease issue. Lyme disease is real. The bacterial infection, chiefly transmitted by deer ticks, can cause rashes, swollen joints and inflamed nerves, and usually is curable with a round of antibiotics. But doctors around the country are telling patients with common […]
December 1st, 2010
World AIDS Day: See You in Kuala Lumpur
A few random thoughts on this 2010 World AIDS Day. Now you can mark your calendars for the next three International AIDS Society/World AIDS Meetings: 2011 in Rome, 2012 in Washington, DC — and now, 2013 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. And what do all 3 of these cities have in common? Extreme summer heat! (For Kuala Lumpur, it’s […]
November 29th, 2010
Once-daily Raltegravir “Not Non-Inferior” to Twice-Daily
In your electronic in-box this AM, this press release from Merck: … although the treatment regimen that included ISENTRESS once daily enabled more than 80 percent of patients to achieve viral suppression, ISENTRESS once daily did not demonstrate non-inferiority to the treatment regimen that included ISENTRESS twice daily. Merck said that based on the initial […]
Paul E. Sax, MD
Contributing Editor
NEJM Journal Watch
Infectious Diseases
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