HIV and ID Observations

December 23rd, 2019

FDA Defers Approval of First Long-Acting HIV Therapy, Surprising Everyone

We HIV/ID specialists are lucky. For over two decades, steady progress in HIV treatment brings regular excitement to our field. Some of these advances are incremental, but others represent major leaps forward. One such example of the latter is long-acting injectable therapy with cabotegravir (CAB) and rilpivirine (RPV) for maintaining viral suppression. This strategy — two […]

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December 15th, 2019

Should Oseltamivir Become an Over-the-Counter Drug?

News broke last week that oseltamivir — most commonly known by its clever (expired) brand name, Tamiflu — may be heading to pharmacies soon as an over-the-counter (OTC) drug, available without a prescription. After hearing this, I immediately thought of several reasons both supporting and opposing this change — an ideal question for a poll! Oseltamivir (brand […]

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December 1st, 2019

On World AIDS Day 2019 — Wouldn’t It Be Nice…?

With apologies to a 1960s band with a flair for complex harmonies and evoking warm ocean breezes (as the first winter storm barrels in), here’s a miscellaneous list of wishes for World AIDS Day. Wouldn’t It Be Nice … If everyone with HIV could be on suppressive antiretroviral therapy? Here are the latest estimates, showing we’re […]

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November 11th, 2019

When TV Gets ID Wrong — Or At Least Not Quite Right

A busy week for Infectious Diseases on television! First, Dr. Aditya Shah, an ID doctor at Mayo Clinic, treated us to several snippets of truly idiotic ID-related drama in a network television show. After seeing them, I commented: Hey, my services to this show to help you talk about infectious diseases without sounding dumb are available at a […]

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October 14th, 2019

Common Questions About the Shingles Vaccine — Answered Here!

Here’s an interesting email from my friend and ID-colleague Dr. Carlos Del Rio (shared with his permission): Went Tuesday to see my PCP for a routine visit and had my second dose of Shingrix that day. I had gotten my first dose about 3 months ago and had severe chills and even a fever of 38.5 […]

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October 7th, 2019

Our HIV Testing Algorithm Has a Major Problem — Here’s How to Fix It

Mostly, HIV testing works great. It’s long been so accurate that we can strongly support HIV testing even in relatively low-risk people. The 2014 revised lab testing guidelines made it even better, recommending a combined antigen/antibody screening test (called the 4th generation test), and replacing the Western blot with the HIV-1/2 differentiation immunoassay as the preferred […]

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September 28th, 2019

What Is the Best Treatment for Advanced HIV Disease?

One of the things that keeps me on Twitter — besides cute dog videos — is the periodic realization that the platform can help patients. Which is, after all, why most of us do this doctor thing — to help people get better. Example: Several months ago we had a challenging patient. I asked twitter if anyone […]

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July 7th, 2019

In Praise of Experienced ID Fellows — and a Dozen On-Service ID Learning Units

A few weeks ago, I cautioned ID fellows about underestimating their hospital’s interns and residents. My message — you were like them not so long ago; they didn’t suddenly all lose their brainpower when you graduated. This ungenerous opinion of house staff may be especially held by experienced fellows, as the accumulating workload of the year […]

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May 5th, 2019

Latest Published Study on HIV Treatment as Prevention Is Déjà Vu All Over Again, But Some News Is So Good It Never Gets Old

Even if you’re not an ID or HIV specialist, there’s an excellent chance you’ve heard of the PARTNER2 study, just published in The Lancet. If not, the title could not be more descriptive: Risk of HIV transmission through condomless sex in serodifferent gay couples with the HIV-positive partner taking suppressive antiretroviral therapy And, in case you’ve just […]

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February 18th, 2019

Yes, Many People Are “Pleasant” or “Delightful,” Even “Lovely” — But Should That Be in the Medical Note?

When writing medical notes, some clinicians include an appreciation of their patient’s personality and disposition in their opening line (the “Chief Complaint”), or when they’re wrapping up (in the “Assessment and Plan”), or in both locations. You know — it goes like this: “CC:  Ms. Smith is a very pleasant 62-year-old woman admitted with …” or: “A/P:  To […]

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