An ongoing dialogue on HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases,
May 21st, 2008
When Expert Clinicians Disagree
Periodically, in AIDS Clinical Care, we publish a case in the “Antiretroviral Rounds” section and ask two clinical experts in our field how they would manage such a patient. The most recent case elicited responses that were 180 degrees different. (This is exactly what we’re after, by the way — why present a case in […]
May 5th, 2008
Brush with Greatness: Paul Farmer
Perhaps you caught this week’s 60 Minutes, featuring the work done by Partners in Health, the group founded and run by Paul Farmer. (If he reads this, he’ll no doubt want to correct my description of him as playing these major roles, eager to give equal credit to his impressive colleague Jim Kim and his […]
April 23rd, 2008
Antiretrovirals in the Pipeline: And Then There Were … None?
The flurry of drug approvals that began in 2005 with tipranavir – followed rapidly by darunavir, maraviroc, raltegravir, and most recently etravirine – has been nothing short of astounding. Every experienced HIV clinician now has many patients who are on successful (read: suppressive) treatment for the first time ever. The Vancouver HIV program — wonderfully called […]
April 17th, 2008
Required Reading: Bat-Related Human Rabies
A group of researchers in Canada have done infectious diseases experts a big favor — they’ve summarized a staggering amount of useful data on bat-related cases of human rabies in a paper just published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. (Note to non-ID specialists: infectious diseases doctors spend a lot of time answering questions about rabies in […]
March 31st, 2008
FDA Investigating Safety of Abacavir and Didanosine — Old News or New?
The FDA has issued one of its new “early communications” indicating that it has opened an investigation into the safety of abacavir and didanosine based on analyses showing higher rates of myocardial infarction with these drugs than with other NRTIs in the Data Collection on Adverse Events of Anti-HIV Drugs (D:A:D) study. The pace of […]
March 19th, 2008
How long have I got, Doc?
Some aspects of seeing a patient newly-diagnosed with HIV haven’t changed much over the years — for example, the emotions in the room remain a mix of fear, shame (note to world: this is still a highly stigmatized disease), incredulity, and ultimately relief in finding a clinician who is comfortable with the condition. But a […]
Paul E. Sax, MD
Contributing Editor
NEJM Journal Watch
Infectious Diseases
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