HIV and ID Observations

December 12th, 2018

Two Weeks of Attending on the ID Consult Service, with One-A-Day ID Learning Units

For those of us who don’t do inpatient medicine all the time, the “blocks” doing inpatient Infectious Diseases consults are a stark reminder of just how complex and challenging the case material can be. Think about it — if a hospitalized patient has a straightforward ID problem, we are not getting involved. No one consults ID […]

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November 18th, 2018

HIV and HCV Treatment, Shorter Antibiotic Courses, Malaria-Sniffing Dogs, and Other ID and HIV Reasons to Be Grateful, 2018 Edition

As noted here before, I’m a big fan of Thanksgiving, a great excuse to get together with family and friends, and to eat a gargantuan amount of food.* (*On this last point, non-U.S. citizens will wonder how this differs from any other time we “Americans” get together. Indeed, we are the Land of Giant Portions. Ever eat […]

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October 28th, 2018

New Flu Drug Offers Convenience, Fast Activity, and a Novel Mechanism — at a Price

Last week, the FDA approved a new drug for treatment of influenza, baloxavir marboxil (Xofluza). The drug is indicated for treatment of symptomatic influenza in patients 12 years of age or older. As with existing treatments, it should be started within 48 hours of symptom onset. In a comparative clinical trial in otherwise healthy outpatients, baloxavir and oseltamivir […]

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October 15th, 2018

Outpatient Antibiotic Prescribing Boosts Patient Satisfaction Scores, Rewarding Bad Medical Practice

A recent study confirms what every busy clinician already knows. Many patients seeking care for respiratory infections expect to receive an antibiotic. When they get one, they’re happier than if they don’t. Among 8437 patients seeking care for a respiratory tract infection in a direct-to-consumer telemedicine service, 66% received an antibiotic. The rate of prescriptions prescribed by […]

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October 8th, 2018

“Mini”-Really Rapid Review — IDWeek 2018, San Francisco

Once upon a time, the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) wasn’t much of a research conference. It consisted mostly of review sessions on topics deemed worthy of an update or a refresher, led by noted experts in the field. They would cite the latest literature on endocarditis, or mycoplasma, or prosthetic […]

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August 23rd, 2018

Eye Worm, MALDI-TOF, New Lyme Testing Approach, Dogs Fail as C. diff Testers, Uiyk (?), and More — A Summer Is Getting Shorter ID Link-o-Rama

A recent chilly spell here in Boston recalled a universal truth about aging — that summer seems to get shorter every year. As far as I can tell in my unscientific poll of everyone who will engage with me on this topic, there are no exceptions to this rule. Everyone thinks summer is shorter than when […]

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May 28th, 2018

Predatory Journals Are Such a Big Problem It’s Not Even Funny

I’ve made fun of academic spam numerous times on this site. It’s those emails from dubious “predatory journals,” written in cheerful but awkward prose, with flowery praise and open invitations to submit research on various scientific topics. You know, the emails that start: Dear Dr. Paul E. Greetings for the day! Most of my coverage has been on […]

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April 16th, 2018

Hepatitis C Positive Organ Donors — Coming Soon to a Transplant Center Near You

There’s one immutable fact in solid organ transplantation — the number of patients awaiting transplant exceeds the number of available organs. This shortage means that ethical, medically safe strategies to increase the donor pool are always a high priority. One such strategy would be to allow transplants from people who have chronic hepatitis C. If the thought of […]

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April 1st, 2018

News Flash — The World Isn’t Sterile

You might have missed this press release from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID): Bethesda, MD April 1, 2018 The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, at the National Institutes of Health, invites grant applications which propose research in the following 3 critical world health challenges: 1.  Development of an effective HIV […]

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March 25th, 2018

Why Is Some Academic Spam Funnier Than Others?

This invitation made me laugh out loud: From: International Journal of Poultry and Fisheries Sciences <poultry@symbiosisonline.us> Date: Friday, March 23, 2018 at 7:03 AM To: “Sax, Paul Edward,M.D.” Subject: Accepting Articles for our Inaugural Issue: IJPFS  Dear Dr. Paul E Sax, Greetings from International Journal of Poultry and Fisheries Sciences! We are privileged to introduce International Journal of Poultry and Fisheries […]

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