An ongoing dialogue on HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases,
June 30th, 2019
Antibiotic Development Is Broken, Brothers in ID Practice, and This Year’s Winner of the ID-Related Social Media Award
I am currently rounding on the inpatient ID service, the new ID fellows arrive shortly, and Louie needs intensive doggy psychotherapy after yesterday’s strong thunderstorms here in Boston. Busy times! As a result, today’s post has no unifying theme. But what it lacks in cohesiveness it more than compensates in value, as here are three […]
June 23rd, 2019
Advice to Incoming Subspecialty Fellows — Don’t Underestimate or Belittle Your Interns and Residents
Around a million years ago, early during the first year of my ID fellowship, a medical intern consulted me about an elderly patient with a urinary tract infection. Me: Does she have a catheter? Intern: I don’t know. Me: Has she been admitted before with a UTI? Any cultures? Intern: I think so — wait, […]
June 16th, 2019
On Father’s Day, a Tribute to a Father Who Isn’t Allowed to Celebrate Father’s Day
Part 1. My Father and How I Became a Doctor I became a doctor with encouragement from my father. Wait, let me rephrase that to capture what happened more accurately. I became a doctor with a fair amount of pressure from my father. Fresh off an adventure abroad, in my early 20s, I had all […]
June 9th, 2019
Is It Safe to Alter the CCR5 Receptor? And How Will This Influence HIV Cure Studies?
The HIV cure effort suffered a potential setback this week, as researchers reported an association between having two copies of the CCR5-∆32 mutation and shorter survival. (Quick reminder — the CCR5 receptor is required for most HIV strains to enter target cells. People homozygous for the CCR5-∆32 mutation are almost completely protected from contracting HIV.) […]
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 […]
Paul E. Sax, MD
Associate Editor
NEJM Clinician
Biography | Disclosures & Summaries
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