HIV and ID Observations

July 25th, 2009

IAS Cape Town 2009: Some Greatest Hits

Below is a highly-subjective list of some of the highlights from the Cape Town IAS meeting. I’m sure I missed something — it’s impossible to see everything at these large conferences.  Corrections/additions welcome! My miss-rate might be particularly high since the international AIDS meetings are appropriately focused on HIV treatment in resource-limited settings (especially Africa) whereas […]

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March 20th, 2009

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow …

Since providers — especially doctors — are notoriously poor at predicting medication adherence, here’s some good news: In a paper from the Women’s Interagency Health Study, protease inhibitor levels in hair samples were the strongest independent predictor of virologic success — better than self-reported adherence, age, race, baseline viral load and CD4 cell count, and […]

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March 10th, 2009

Unwelcome Visitor: Cost of HIV Meds

Those of us who practice HIV medicine in Taxachusetts (warning, click link at your peril) live a pretty charmed life, at least so far as getting HIV medications paid for.  Due to an incredibly generous AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), rare is the patient who faces financial barriers getting his or her drugs. (By the way, […]

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April 30th, 2008

Young Doctors “Get a Life” — Whither ID/HIV?

A front-page article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal says that younger physicians (definition:  younger than I am), “intent on balancing work and family,” are choosing specialties that allow them to control their hours.  The content of the article will be familiar, including: The rise of the hospitalist movement A decline in those entering primary care fields The […]

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