An ongoing dialogue on HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases,
November 25th, 2019
Vaccine Defenders, U=U Holds Up, Zika Is Gone, and Other ID Things to Be Grateful For, 2019 Edition
An excellent episode of the Freakonomics podcast introduced me to the headwinds vs tailwinds asymmetry, and how we humans perceive life. It goes like this: We go for a walk, a run, or a bike ride, and the wind faces us dead-on, making the exercise a struggle. (In windy Boston, the wind is always in my […]
November 18th, 2019
The Best Guide to HIV Drug Names — Yours for Free!
Earlier this month, I noted something that all of us ID/HIV specialists should readily concede — namely, that learning the names of the HIV drugs is fiendishly difficult. Afterwards, I heard from a few old-timers (that is, people like me). They acknowledged that we were lucky to experience the roll-out of these medications (and their […]
November 11th, 2019
When TV Gets ID Wrong — Or At Least Not Quite Right
A busy week for Infectious Diseases on television! First, Dr. Aditya Shah, an ID doctor at Mayo Clinic, treated us to several snippets of truly idiotic ID-related drama in a network television show. After seeing them, I commented: Hey, my services to this show to help you talk about infectious diseases without sounding dumb are […]
November 3rd, 2019
Learning the Names of HIV Drugs Is Horribly Difficult — Here’s Why
Happens every time. We start teaching about HIV, and at first, everything is going great. Epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, clinical presentation. The students are right there with us. However, then we start covering treatment — and things immediately get tricky. Because no matter how engaged and brilliant they are, and no matter how scintillating we are, […]
Paul E. Sax, MD
Associate Editor
NEJM Clinician
Biography | Disclosures & Summaries
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