HIV and ID Observations

The response to our First Ever ID Cartoon Caption Contest was gratifyingly brisk, with hundreds of entries.

Not going to lie about this — we were somewhat concerned the response would be silence … you know, as in <<crickets>> … but you readers proved very much up to the task, with numerous funny suggestions.

Our sophisticated computer algorithm has gone through the submissions, and noted several themes, specifically:

• Pig-Pen.
• Colistin, KPCs, and other references to resistant bacteria.
• Fecal transplants.
• How hard (and messy) it is to be an intern, resident, or fellow, compared to the clean faculty members standing next to him.
• The ironic (and therefore funny!) contrast between the coat (dirty) and his hands (presumably washed) or tie (tucked in).
• References to historic names in ID/microbiology (Lister, Petri, Semmelweis).
• The Hygiene Hypothesis.
• How being an ID (or GI, or Emergency Medicine) doctor, or Pediatrician, can be a squalid business.
• Puns/word plays on medical terminology. Many funny, all groan-worthy.

Of course, some responses were just baffling, with even our sophisticated supercomputer unable to decipher the humor — or frankly the meaning — of the submission.

The good news is that after hours of number-crunching, we’ve come up with 3 possible winners.

First, as a refresher, the picture:

Now, no doubt inspired by this wacky Presidential campaign and Brexit, you get to vote.