An ongoing dialogue on HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases,
January 31st, 2021
Are We Expecting Too Much from Our COVID-19 Vaccines?
There are no absolutes in life. And nothing is perfect. Tom Brady isn’t always in the Super Bowl (hard to believe). Serena Williams occasionally exits tennis tournaments in the early rounds. Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep sometimes appear in movies that are stinkers. I’ve always thought that Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum in New York […]
November 24th, 2020
Some ID Things to Be Grateful for This Holiday Season — 2020 (!) Edition
“Grateful?” some might wonder. “He must be out of his mind.” But even in the cursed year that began shortly after the first report of the disease now known as COVID-19 on (almost) New Year’s Eve, we can still find some things to praise, and to offer our gratitude. Or at the very least, acknowledge […]
October 18th, 2020
Does Remdesivir Actually Work?
Quick answer — it’s complicated. Let’s start with a clinical anecdote — rightfully considered the weakest form of evidence, yet paradoxically holding great power over us because we’re imperfect humans. It’s the way we’re wired. In April, a patient of mine with stable HIV came into the hospital with COVID-19 pneumonia. (Certain details changed for […]
August 30th, 2020
Cases of SARS-CoV-2 Reinfection Highlight the Limitations — and the Mysteries — of Our Immune System
In case you didn’t notice, or perhaps were “off the grid” taking some well-earned time away from COVID-19 news, this past week we heard about several cases of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection. We’ll come back to them in a moment, but first, some questions: Why does one parent never get sick when their kids start coughing and […]
August 24th, 2020
FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization for Convalescent Plasma for COVID-19 Seems To Be Fooling No One
Starting late Saturday night, and proceeding the next day — like a relentless series of coming attractions for a blockbuster summer movie or the finale of a reality TV series — we repeatedly heard word that the President planned to make an announcement Sunday evening about a “major therapeutic breakthrough” in treatment of COVID-19. 6 […]
July 26th, 2020
Time to Amplify Our Voices Calling for Inexpensive Rapid Home Testing for COVID-19
Earlier this month, I highlighted how inexpensive rapid home testing for COVID-19 could get us out of this mess faster than a vaccine. To spare you re-reading the whole thing, here are the main points. Imagine a simple test done on a saliva sample placed on a paper strip. Results back in 15 minutes. Available […]
July 15th, 2020
Really Rapid Review — AIDS 2020 Virtual
The International AIDS Conference — or AIDS 2020 — shifted from its Bay Area dual locations of San Francisco and Oakland to be entirely online. Digital. In the cloud. Virtual. The primary motivation for the switch was to show off what the numerous tech giants in the region could do with this fancy thing called […]
May 25th, 2020
A Major Advance in Non-COVID-19 ID Research You Might Have Missed
One thing about the COVID-19 pandemic — other important non-COVID ID news gets crowded out. As a prime example, take HPTN 083, a major clinical trial in HIV prevention. The results are a big deal, and should have garnered more attention when they were released last week. This randomized, double-blind pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) study compared […]
April 12th, 2020
IDSA’s COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Highlight Difficulty of “Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There”
The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) gathered a series of experts for what were undoubtedly many late-night calls, reviews of published and pre-print literature, and revisions (of revisions), and admirably generated a set of treatment guidelines for COVID-19. The problem — there is no proven effective treatment for COVID-19. That is, there’s no proven […]
March 6th, 2020
CROI 2020 Will Be a “Virtual Meeting” After All — Plus, What Scares Me (and Doesn’t) About Coronavirus
This just in: BREAKING NEWS: #CROI2020 will be a virtual meeting this year! Thanks to @IAS_USA @DonnaJacobsen and all CROI leadership for wrestling with this difficult decision and putting public health first. https://t.co/KPmJ66x7GL — Melanie Thompson (@drmt) March 6, 2020 If you’re a frequent reader of this blog, you might have read here just minutes […]
Paul E. Sax, MD
Associate Editor
NEJM Clinician
Biography | Disclosures & Summaries
Learn more about HIV and ID Observations.
FROM NEJM — Recent Infectious Disease Articles- Primary Measles Infection February 26, 2026A previously healthy man presented with a 5-day history of fever, nausea, and vomiting and a 2-day history of an itchy rash. Examination showed an exanthem consisting of minute macules and subtly elevated papules.
- Tecovirimat for the Treatment of Mpox February 26, 2026Mpox continues to spread in many communities. Tecovirimat has activity against orthopoxviruses in vitro. In a phase 3 trial involving patients with acute mpox, tecovirimat showed no evidence of clinical activity.
- Microbial Flora in War Wounds from the Ukrainian Front Line February 26, 2026Battlefield injuries are often contaminated with potentially infecting microbes. In this study, swabs obtained in the field after injury were profiled. Microbes and potential antimicrobial-resistance genes were characterized.
- AI-Enabled Precision-Education Systems — Transforming Lifelong Learning in Medicine February 26, 2026Trainees’ paths to safe, independent practice are variable. Artificial intelligence could help accelerate implementation of competency-based medical education to support individualized development.
- From Efficacy to Access in Long-Acting HIV Therapy February 26, 2026Over the past three decades, advances in antiretroviral therapy (ART) have dramatically improved life expectancy, decreased frailty, and improved quality of life for persons with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).1,2 These gains have accrued primarily among those who can reliably access health care and adhere to daily treatment. For...
- Primary Measles Infection February 26, 2026