HIV and ID Observations

October 27th, 2008

Antibiotics as Placebos?

This article in the BMJ is geting lots of news:  Out of 679 practicing physicians in the United States, about half admitted to prescribing placebos on a regular basis.  A “small but notable proportion (13%) of physicians reported using antibiotics.” My first instinct was surprise that the rate was this low, but then I remembered that public […]

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September 18th, 2008

C. diff: The cure for antibiotic abuse

Even with market doom-and-gloom dominating the news, there’s a good article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal on Clostridium difficile (C. diff).  It gives an accurate summary (in lay language) of the problem, several pertinent clinical anecdotes, and quotations from national experts. But this part in particular caught my eye: She says that among other measures, the hospital has […]

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