HIV and ID Observations

January 4th, 2023

Medical Masks vs. N95 Respirators for Preventing COVID-19 Among Healthcare Workers

As promised, the end of 2022 saw a trio of controversial COVID-19–related publications. First up is something that always causes a stir — a study on masks! Reviewing a study on masks in the COVID-19 era is like poking a hornet’s nest with a stick, and this one is no exception. But let’s poke away! Aside from […]

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March 10th, 2010

The Extraordinary Power of Placebo

Just published in the journal Neurology — not typically on my radar screen — is this remarkable study comparing pregabalin to placebo for HIV-related distal sensory peripheral neuropathy. Here are the results: At endpoint, pregabalin and placebo showed substantial reductions in mean Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) score from baseline: -2.88 vs -2.63, p = 0.3941. (-snip-) […]

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October 12th, 2009

AIDS Vaccine: Maybe not Effective After All

Well, that didn’t take long: Researchers from the U.S. Army and Thailand announced last month they had found the first vaccine that provided some protection against HIV. But a second analysis of the $105 million study, not disclosed publicly, suggests the results may have been a fluke, according to AIDS scientists who have seen it. In short, […]

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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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