An ongoing dialogue on HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases,
October 29th, 2017
Cellulitis, Lyme, VZV, MRSA, TB, Tdap: Great Questions from ID in Primary Care
We’ve just finished our annual course Infectious Diseases in Primary Care, and once again our attendees — all busy clinicians — asked some excellent questions. Below, a small sample: What is the drug of choice for cellulitis in outpatients who are allergic to penicillin? Importantly, this is about cellulitis — not abscesses — which means most are […]
November 8th, 2012
Steroids for Bell’s Palsy and the ID Doctor
OK, let’s imagine you’ve just gotten a call/email/text from one of your colleagues about Bell’s palsy; he/she is a busy PCP who periodically asks you very reasonable ID questions. I suspect it went something like this: COLLEAGUE: Hi Friendly ID Doctor, quick question — I have a patient with Bell’s palsy — wondering whether to give him […]
May 4th, 2010
Zoster Vaccine Underutilized
From the Annals of Internal Medicine: Eighty-eight percent of providers recommend herpes zoster vaccine and 41% strongly recommend it, compared with more than 90% who strongly recommend influenza and pneumococcal vaccines. For physicians in both specialties [Internal Medicine and Family Practice], the most frequently reported barriers to vaccination were financial. From my admittedly biased perspective as an […]