An ongoing dialogue on HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases,
December 20th, 2014
New HCV Option Effective, Safe, Well-Tolerated — And Use Will Likely Be Driven by Payors
As expected, the FDA approved the next treatment option for HCV on Friday — “Viekira Pak”, a (sometimes complete) regimen consisting of ritonavir-booted parataprevir and ombitasvir given as a two pills once a day, plus one pill of of dasabuvir given twice daily. It is indicated for treatment of HCV genotype 1. For those of you mechanistically inclined, […]
December 14th, 2014
2014 Top Stories in HIV Medicine
Boy do we love end-of-year “Best of …” and “Top Stories of …” lists! Love them! They never gets old! Until January, that is. My own particular favorites are the Best Movies of the Year lists, since for whatever reason it always seems like some masterpiece slips by. Missed it! So we leave it up to […]
November 23rd, 2014
Five ID/HIV Things to be Grateful for this Holiday Season, 2014 Edition
Amidst outbreak hysterias, anti-vaccine imbecility, electronic medical record whining, and slug-related eosinophilia, I bring you this year’s version of the good news — the 2014 edition of Five ID/HIV Things to be Grateful for this Holiday Season, just in time for your holiday turkeys. (Needless to say, the bird will be properly cooked to ensure it’s salmonella-free, with all […]
October 19th, 2014
Almost Filovirus-Free (That is, Ebola-Free) ID Link-o-Rama
If you’re an ID doctor right now, the filovirus of the moment Ebola is consuming a big chunk of all of your non-clinical time — and this is particularly true for those heavily involved in Infection Control, who are spending every waking hour responding to public hysteria, to various clinicians who seem to have all the answers, and to ever […]
October 15th, 2014
Second U.S. Healthcare Worker with Ebola Further Underscores Urgent Need for Enhanced Preparedness — and Perhaps Designated Care Centers
If you’re like most of us, when you heard that a healthcare worker in Dallas had been diagnosed with Ebola virus disease, you assumed that the exposure occurred during his first visit to the hospital. That is, before he was diagnosed with Ebola, and before infection precautions had been instituted. But no, it happened after […]
October 12th, 2014
Approval of Sofosbuvir/Ledipasvir Was Expected, but Still Is a Huge Advance
As expected, the FDA just approved the first single-pill treatment for hepatitis C genotype 1, a tablet containing 400 mg of sofosbuvir (SOF) and 90 mg of ledipasvir (LDV). For those not following this story closely, sofosbuvir is the pan-genotypic NRTI polymerase inhibitor approved last December to much rejoicing — and controversy about the price. Ledipasvir […]
September 7th, 2014
It’s OK to Limit Who Prescribes HCV Therapy, but Insurers Shouldn’t Be Deciding
Some insurers would like to limit the prescribing of HCV treatment to gastroenterologists, hepatologists, or infectious diseases specialists. Not surprisingly, this doesn’t sit well with either the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) or the American Academy of HIV Medicine (AAHIVM), both of which have long acknowledged that some of the most seasoned HIV providers are generalists: “There is no […]
July 19th, 2014
Mood Solemn in Melbourne as AIDS 2014 Starts
There is unquestionably a shadow cast over this year’s international AIDS meeting here in Melbourne, and it’s not the result of the Australian winter. It’s the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, of course, which prematurely ended the lives of hundreds of people — including many people en route to this conference, most notably one of the field’s finest […]
June 28th, 2014
CDC Nixes HIV Western Blot in Latest Testing Guidelines
Finally, it’s official — the Western blot is no longer recommended as a confirmatory test for HIV infection. From the latest Laboratory Testing for the Diagnosis of HIV Infection, updated June 27: The HIV-1 Western blot and HIV-1 immunofluorescence assay, previously recommended to make a laboratory diagnosis of HIV-1 infection, are no longer part of the […]
June 15th, 2014
Poll: Should ID Doctors Still Do HIV Primary Care?
My friend and colleague Ken Freedberg is giving a talk soon at our regional IDSA meeting called, “Who Should Be Providing HIV Care?” He’s a very smart guy (except during the football playoffs, when he is possessed by evil forces), so maybe he’ll answer this question that has strangely bedeviled our field for decades. But I’m […]
Paul E. Sax, MD
Associate Editor
NEJM Clinician
Biography | Disclosures & Summaries
Learn more about HIV and ID Observations.
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