An ongoing dialogue on HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases,
July 29th, 2018
Really Rapid Review — International AIDS Conference 2018, Amsterdam
The International AIDS Conference — or “AIDS 2018” — returned to Amsterdam for the first time since 1992. It’s worth pausing, with gratitude, to remember that 26 years ago antiretroviral therapy consisted of three available drugs — zidovudine (AZT), didanosine (ddI), and zalcitabine (ddC). All were marginally effective, with limited durability and significant toxicity. In […]
July 22nd, 2018
FDA Approves First PI-Based Single-Tablet Treatment for HIV — How Will It Be Used?
The latest HIV drug approval from the FDA came this past week with the release of a single-tablet treatment containing the following drugs: Darunavir (DRV) 800 mg Cobicistat (c) 150 mg Emtricitabine (FTC) 200 mg Tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) 10 mg Often abbreviated “DCF-TAF,” this is the first full treatment regimen in a single pill with […]
July 15th, 2018
On-Service Digest, July 2018 — with Special Section Just for Staph aureus
I’m currently on-service for the inpatient ID consult team, and this is July. At a teaching hospital. Here’s where some would play scary music. After all, the interns and fellows have just started! YIKES! But no scary music for me — I love working with the July newbies. Because whatever they lack in experience or efficiency, they […]
July 8th, 2018
Surgeon Who Was Denied Disability Insurance for Taking PrEP Tells His Story
Earlier this year, urology resident Dr. Philip Cheng appeared on the front page of the New York Times. Here was the headline: He Took a Drug to Prevent AIDS. Then He Couldn’t Get Disability Insurance. The piece understandably drew widespread attention, with sharp disapproval of the denial from ID specialists and public health officials. We […]
July 1st, 2018
Why Do Our Patients Think They Have Spider Bites?
We are currently in peak tick season here in the Northeastern United States. It might be hard for clinicians elsewhere to understand just how profoundly this changes our assessment of fevers and rashes. But consider this — ordering the trio of Lyme antibody, Anaplasma PCR, and Babesia PCR is as much a part of the […]
Paul E. Sax, MD
Associate Editor
NEJM Clinician
Biography | Disclosures & Summaries
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