An ongoing dialogue on HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases,
November 6th, 2016
Do ID Clinicians Perpetuate Our Own Stigma?
Infectious Diseases doctors will find this exchange familiar: New person you’re meeting: What to do you do? ID Doc: I’m a doctor. New person: Oh — what kind? ID Doc: A specialist in Infectious Diseases. New person (making a face, or moving a few feet back, either to be humorous or truly frightened, or both): […]
October 29th, 2016
Are Antibiotics Useful for Small Skin Abscesses? Now There’s an Answer
Let’s start with the clinical controversy, one that’s been bouncing around Emergency Rooms, outpatient practices, postgraduate courses, and medical journals for years. Specifically, are antibiotics helpful for skin abscesses that are adequately drained? It’s still debated since of course most patients with this annoying problem will get better on their own provided the drainage is adequate. What do the […]
October 20th, 2016
Back to School: Questions from “ID in Primary Care” — Shared and Answered!
Once again, we’re giving our “Infectious Diseases in Primary Care” post-graduate course in beautiful Boston — where the weather is perfect, the air crisp and clear, and we are all watching with excitement as the few remaining baseball teams and presidential candidates make a mad dash to the end of their respective races. (You might have heard […]
October 9th, 2016
Why Guessing An ID/HIV Doctor’s Political Affiliation Is Easy
One of our medical school’s most beloved teachers gives a wonderful lecture on how to give an effective presentation. He offers many invaluable tips for a successful talk, such as 1) Show up early; 2) Know your audience; 3) Don’t read your slides; 4) Never include a slide that you need to preface by saying, “I know you can’t […]
October 2nd, 2016
“Brink of HIV Cure” ID Link-o-Rama
There, that title got your attention, didn’t it? Anyway, this HIV cure news thing and a few other ID/HIV topics to contemplate while buying your pumpkin, celebrating the New Year in October, or shaking your head that all the stores seem to be putting out their Christmas stuff already. I mean, come on — it’s not even […]
September 25th, 2016
Is There a Hospitalist “Bounce-Back” to ID?
The New England Journal of Medicine recently published two outstanding pieces on hospitalists, and they had pretty much diametrically opposing perspectives. Both should be required reading for anyone practicing medicine, and indeed anyone who might know — or be — a patient in a U.S. hospital one day. In short, everyone. But since you may not have […]
September 18th, 2016
Ten Years After Landmark HIV Testing Guidelines, How Are We Doing? Specifically in Emergency Departments?
In the late 1990s, a patient was admitted to our hospital with HIV-associated PCP. He had advanced AIDS, a CD4 cell count < 100, and was sick enough to require a temporary stay in our ICU. Those clinical details aren’t so remarkable — “late” diagnoses of HIV still happen, and happened even more back then. […]
September 11th, 2016
Poll: More on Morgans, and Vote on Your Favorite Cartoon Caption
During my last post on the new HIV testing algorithm, I mentioned that I’d recently met a doctor named “Morgan” for the first time. I also provided actual data why this might be an unusual name for a doctor today, but, rarity notwithstanding, we should anticipate more examples of “Morgan —-, MD” soon. At the end […]
September 4th, 2016
The Most Common Question About the New HIV Testing Algorithm, Answered
A primary care doctor in the Boston area recently emailed me this question: Hi Paul, A 28yo woman had a positive 4th gen +Ag/Ab assay, but a negative HIV-1/2 differentiation assay and negative HIV viral load. She had no signs of acute HIV, but is not using condoms with her partner, whose HIV status she doesn’t know. We repeated the […]
August 27th, 2016
ID Cartoon Caption Contest #1 Winner — and a New Contest for the End of Summer
All blogs worth the price of admission have a sidebar, and this one is no exception. Critical components include (but are not limited to) the following: The Option to Subscribe — Go ahead, you know you want to. It’s right over there to the right. Just enter your email address and click subscribe — no username, […]
Paul E. Sax, MD
Associate Editor
NEJM Clinician
Biography | Disclosures & Summaries
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FROM NEJM — Recent Infectious Disease Articles- A Pediatrician’s Dilemma — Pushing Back against CDC Guidance in the Exam Room February 7, 2026When a mother cites the CDC as her source of dangerous misinformation about vaccines, her child’s pediatrician struggles: how hard can a doctor push back without destroying the trust built over a lifetime?
- A Matter of Time February 5, 2026A 29-year-old woman with active opioid, alcohol, benzodiazepine, tobacco, and cocaine use disorders and recent intravenous drug use presented with acute onset of chills and increased pain and drainage of chronic wounds in both legs.
- Antigenic Drift and Antivaccine Shift in the 2025–2026 Influenza Season February 4, 2026Both viral and host factors have contributed to the intensity of influenza activity during the 2025–2026 season. Some of these factors can be managed, whereas others are largely beyond human control.
- Case 4-2026: An 80-Year-Old Woman with Cough and Hypoxemia January 29, 2026An 80-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital because of cough and hypoxemia (oxygen saturation, 83%). CT of the chest showed diffuse ground-glass opacities in both lungs. A diagnosis was made.
- The Essential Role of States in Protecting Immunization Access January 29, 2026In the face of U.S. federal policy shifts that threaten to destabilize vaccine access and weaken clinical guidance, states can step in and protect their residents.
- A Pediatrician’s Dilemma — Pushing Back against CDC Guidance in the Exam Room February 7, 2026