HIV and ID Observations

July 5th, 2012

Home HIV Test Big News — But Why? And What Impact Will It Have?

The recent FDA approval of a home HIV antibody test (OraQuick In-Home HIV Test) was covered just about everywhere. It’s an oral swab test, takes 20-40 minutes, and will be available over-the-counter. How big a news story was it? Several hundred sources featured it on the day of the announcement, and the total count is now well over a thousand […]

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June 29th, 2012

HIV Testing Roundup, and a Brief Rant

I’ve written so many times about HIV testing that a complete list of the headlines fills two full web pages. But since the last entry on the topic was more than a month ago, one might think I’ve lost interest in the topic. Never! Three items on the HIV Testing radar, two national, one local. First, for a classic […]

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May 20th, 2012

News on HIV and HCV Testing, and in Praise of Accurate Screening Tests

Two recent news items reminded me how lucky we are to have some very accurate screening tests for certain infectious diseases. The news: An expert FDA panel backed approval of the first true home test for HIV, the OraQuick mouth swab test. Approval of OraQuick for home use may occur later this year. While home testing for […]

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September 22nd, 2011

Common Sense on HIV Testing

There’s an editorial in today’s Boston Globe that concisely (188 words) describes the problems with both the current and proposed HIV testing laws in Massachusetts. I’ve not been shy about the fact that I agree with every word of this piece. And though I strongly recommend reading the whole editorial — it’s very well written — if you […]

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August 19th, 2011

A Reason To Continue Restrictive HIV Testing Laws? Not Really …

The pending HIV legislation is much on my mind these days, for reasons I outlined here. Bottom line is that I don’t think it’s good for patient care, and we’re missing a real opportunity to make things better here in the Bay State. But yesterday I heard a perspective on the bill I hadn’t considered, and […]

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August 3rd, 2011

Why the Proposed Massachusetts HIV Testing Bill is Bad for Patients

As I’ve written about here multiple times, I’m not a big fan of the HIV testing law in our state. First, there’s the requirement for written informed consent, something that every state (except a couple) has wisely abandoned. Second, it’s more than a testing law — it’s also an HIV privacy law, which is arguably unnecessary […]

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June 15th, 2011

Hockey Helicobacters

Today’s ID/HIV items come to you courtesy of a winter game being played during a summer month: So it appears that community-based care of HCV augmented by telemedicine is just as good as traditional clinic visits to specialists. My first thought on reading this important paper is that there are undoubtedly lots of ways to incorporate […]

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May 18th, 2011

HIV Exceptionalism and the Department of Unintended Consequences

Quick question:  If there were one piece of information — clinical or lab — that you would use to determine the quality of care in an HIV program, what would it be?  (Choose one.) Rates of influenza vaccine administration Receiving PCP prophylaxis with CD4 < 200 Adherence counseling before starting antiretroviral therapy Baseline toxoplasmosis serology Proportion of […]

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February 3rd, 2011

Disparities in HIV Diagnoses, and Interpreting CDC-ese

In anticipation of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (February 7), the CDC has issued a new report on the disparities in HIV diagnoses in the United States. During 2005–2008, blacks/African Americans accounted for 13.6% of the population in the 37 states and 50.3% of the 156,812 diagnoses of HIV infection during that period … HIV transmissions […]

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December 1st, 2010

World AIDS Day: See You in Kuala Lumpur

A few random thoughts on this 2010 World AIDS Day. Now you can mark your calendars for the next three International AIDS Society/World AIDS Meetings:  2011 in Rome, 2012 in Washington, DC — and now, 2013 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  And what do all 3 of these cities have in common?  Extreme summer heat!  (For Kuala Lumpur, it’s actually […]

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