An ongoing dialogue on HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases,
September 26th, 2025
My Dog Louie, the Best Dog Ever, Is Seriously Ill
We got some bad news about our dog Louie, the world’s greatest dog. Writing his story here is therapeutic, so forgive the oversharing. In January, 2013, my wife forwarded me this email: She doesn’t usually use 5 exclamation points or 6 question marks, and the unusual punctuation betrayed her excitement. The answer to “What do […]
September 19th, 2025
Two Drugs, Not Three: The DOLCE Study in Advanced HIV Disease
Three-drug therapy has been the standard of care for HIV therapy for so long it’s difficult to shake the view that it must be more effective than two drugs. This is particularly the case for those with advanced, HIV-related immunosuppression or very high viral loads, as they provide an important stress test for all regimens. […]
September 10th, 2025
When Required Learning Modules Surprise You (In a Good Way)
Like most clinicians, I have a checkered history with required online learning modules. You know the drill: click play, get lectured in monotone about hand hygiene or fire safety, then spend the next 8 minutes desperately searching for the fast-forward button, hoping it’s not disabled. My personal low point (or high point, depending on your […]
September 4th, 2025
End-of-Summer Musings — Hepatitis B, Dalbavancin, Alpha-Gal, and More
The last time I did one of these quick “musings” posts, I listed 21, and someone asked me, “Why 21?” The answer — obviously — is that I originally planned on writing 20, but then had to add a 21st, just because that’s exactly how many points you need to win a ping pong game. […]
Paul E. Sax, MD
Associate Editor
NEJM Clinician
Biography | Disclosures & Summaries
Learn more about HIV and ID Observations.