An ongoing dialogue on HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases,
June 2nd, 2010
Screening for Anal Cancer and the World’s Worst Job
In Journal Watch AIDS Clinical Care, we published a simple case: Clinically stable HIV+ gay man, on HIV treatment; anal pap comes back with “atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance” (ASCUS). What to do with this result? Two experts weighed in, Howard Libman and Joel Gallant. In Howard’s thoughtful response, he acknowledges the limitations of the data […]
April 24th, 2010
Choosing an Official State Microbe
Wisconsin has selected Lactococcus lactis as its official state microbe: The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows: SECTION 1. 1.10 (3) (t) of the statutes is created to read: 1.10 (3) (t) The bacterium Lactococcus lactis is the state microbe. SECTION 2. 1.10 (4) of the statutes is amended […]
April 22nd, 2010
Should Transmission of HIV be a Crime?
Not according to Journal Watch editor and New York Times writer Abigail Zuger, writing here in the Times. She’s referring to the recent Darren Chiacchia case, where his former partner has filed a legal complaint that Chiacchia did not disclose having HIV — potentially a first-degree felony in Florida. Were it a matter of science […]
April 4th, 2010
San Francisco Public Health: Treatment Recommended for All with HIV
Could there be anything more interesting than the start of the baseball season? Maybe, because this is quite something: In a major shift of HIV treatment policy, San Francisco public health doctors have begun to advise patients to start taking antiviral medicines as soon as they are found to be infected, rather than waiting — sometimes […]
March 31st, 2010
C diff Guidelines: Metronidazole Still Preferred?
IDSA and The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) have published Clinical Practice Guidelines for Clostridium difficile infection. Not surprisingly, it’s a comprehensive, extensively-referenced document that will be an invaluable resource, especially since the previous version is approximately 15 years old. But with the caveat that I’m not an expert in this area, these particular […]
March 24th, 2010
Now for Some Good News: TB Cases Continue to Decline
From the latest MMWR: This figure speaks for itself, but two sentences from the Editorial Note deserve highlighting: The 11.4% decrease in reported TB rate in 2009 is the largest single-year decrease ever recorded. From 1953 to 1993, the single largest annual percentage decrease in TB case rate was 11.1% in 1956 Since I started my […]
February 2nd, 2010
Bats in the Bedroom: Canadians Make a Policy Change
ID doctors know all too well the panicky call — usually from a terrified friend, family member, or colleague, or possibly the emergency room or primary care doc — about finding a bat in the house. Usually in the bedroom. (In one memorable case, it was the house cat’s leaping in the air to try […]
January 14th, 2010
Magic Wand Destroys H1N1 — and More!
From the folks at Hammacher Schlemmer comes this extraordinary device: Tests performed by an independent antimicrobial testing laboratory showed the wand destroyed 99.98% of the H1N1 virus after a five-second exposure when held 3/4″ above the contaminated surface. Also capable of killing MRSA, mold, and dust mites, the UV-C light penetrates viral and bacterial membranes […]
December 28th, 2009
Holiday Surprise: Generic Valacyclovir
Last week one of my patients went to refill a Valtrex prescription, and was offered generic valacyclovir for the first time. It made him nervous, so he requested I write a “brand-name only” script. I confess the existence of a generic formulation of valacyclovir — which according to the PharmD here has been available for […]
December 2nd, 2009
So Much in Less than a Week!
First the updated WHO Guidelines. Then the following: Updated DHHS Guidelines. Agree? Disagree? Sensible or crazy? Practical or ivory-tower academic? South Africa does the right thing. Yes, it’s about time, but good news nonetheless. 2012 International AIDS Meeting in Washington, D.C. First time in USA in a long, long time — 1990, to be exact […]
Paul E. Sax, MD
Contributing Editor
NEJM Journal Watch
Infectious Diseases
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