HIV and ID Observations

June 2nd, 2019

A Highly Subjective Guide to Clinically Important Infections That Have Changed Names

Why do many clinically important microorganisms change names? They haven’t married and taken their spouse’s name or gone to Hollywood and adopted a stage name. Instead, through the tireless work of microbiologists, taxonomists, and geneticists, they have undergone sufficient reclassification so that their old name just doesn’t make sense anymore. Or more graphically: Why do clinical microbiologists love taxonomy? […]

---

October 7th, 2015

The Future of Diagnostic Microbiology, in 17 Minutes!

Over at Open Forum Infectious Diseases, I had the pleasure to interview Dr. Angela Caliendo about the latest advances in diagnostic microbiology. She touches on molecular testing in general, rapid pathogen identification (especially with MALDI-TOF, everyone’s favorite acronym), “syndromic” diagnostic testing for respiratory infections and diarrhea, use of Xpert for TB even here in the United States, […]

---

February 24th, 2013

Solve This Problem Please — Microbiology Results in Electronic Medical Records

Our hospital and affiliated practices have had electronic medical record (EMRs) of some sort for decades, so I’ve had my chance to try my hand at multiple “platforms,” both commercial and home-brew. (Weirdly — and I kid you not on this — a version of the first iteration from the 1980s is still around, running parallel […]

---

November 25th, 2008

Coming Soon: A Great Advance in TB Diagnostics

An all-too-frequent problem in the ID clinical world is the case where tuberculosis is possibly the diagnosis, but confirming it is difficult, or impossible. Now, in a scientific breakthrough of such magnitude that it warranted front page coverage in our local newspaper, I am pleased to report that we may have a solution: giant rats. Yes, giant […]

---