An ongoing dialogue on HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases,
July 25th, 2025
Who Gets Sent to ID Clinic? A Field Guide to Outpatient Referrals
Sometimes people ask me what kind of cases get referred to ID doctors in the outpatient setting. Despite what the latest television series might suggest, it’s rarely suspected Ebola (fortunately) or Tsutsugamushi fever — a disease that is much more fun to say by its Japanese name than its common one, scrub typhus. (In Japanese, “tsutsuga” […]
July 17th, 2025
Ceftriaxone Is a Narrow Antibiotic Now — and Other Musings
In no particular order, 20 things I’ve found interesting lately — a mix of ID (mostly), language quirks, clinical stuff, even tennis, and an apology (#21) at the very end. Bonus videos embedded because we all need a break. 1. Isn’t it amazing how, over time, an antibiotic once considered “broad spectrum” later becomes the […]
July 12th, 2025
The Patient Did Well — So the Insurance Company Won’t Pay
Sometimes, you can predict a bad outcome. Examples: Proposing marriage after an awkward first date — and doing so over gas station nachos. Moving to a Cambridge apartment with no off-street parking, then buying a Tesla Cybertruck. Trying to recruit for ID fellowships from a group of cosmetic dermatologists. But predicting what happens in clinical […]
July 7th, 2025
Two Pandemics, Compared: Reflections on HIV and COVID-19
“Dr. Sax, what’s it like to have lived through two pandemics as an ID doctor?” The question came from a brand-new intern during afternoon sign-out. I took a breath — because wow, were they different. HIV: It Felt Like A Calling, One Miraculously Rewarded I started my internship in 1987, six years after the first […]
Paul E. Sax, MD
Associate Editor
NEJM Clinician
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