Category Archives: infectious disease

Helen Conrad Davies, 97, an award-winning scientist and professor emeritus of microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania, a vocal advocate for racial equality and women’s rights, and a revered mentor who sang to her students about infectious diseases, died March 23, of respiratory failure at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She was oneContinue reading “Helen Conrad Davies, celebrated scientist, ‘singing professor’ of microbiology, dies at 97”

Tuberculosis is important because it is spread by the airborne route, and because of drug resistance which increases mortality. Yearly, approximately 10 million people fall ill with TB, and 1.5 million die from the disease. These numbers may be going up because of COVID and disrupted health systems. This Thursday, March 24, is World TBContinue reading “World TB Day”

The treatment regimens for pediatric tuberculosis are too long and complicated. A new study from Zambia, Uganda, South Africa and India attempted to rectify that situation. (I have been to 3 of the 4 study sites, in Lusaka; Kampala, and Stellenboch, but not Pune, India). The bottom line is the clinical trial, which was publishedContinue reading “Childhood Tuberculosis — Time for Shorter Treatment”

Today I turn your attention to a paper in Science by Mathew Stracy and colleagues, Minimizing treatment-induced emergence of antibiotic resistance in bacterial infections. The researchers used whole genome sequencing and machine learning and looked at a large number of urinary tract and wound infections. They discussed the importance of resistance being driven by “rapidContinue reading “Machine Learning for Antibiotic Resistance”

A recent issue of JAMA has published a clinical guidelines synopsis of the 2021 CDC Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) Treatment Guidelines. The JAMA synopsis was written by Drs. Aniruddha Hazra; Maggie Collison, and Andrew Davis. (The original STI treatment guidelines were written by a group of nine experts). The two-page JAMA clinical guidelines synopsis is well written, andContinue reading “CDC’s Sexually Transmitted Infections Treatment Guidelines”

We are flying to California tonight! Our schedule is here if anyone wants to follow along and meet up with us. I’ll try to blog along the way. Today, I want to write about tixagevimab with cilgavimab (Evusheld) for the prevention of COVID-19. This is the AstraZenica product authorized under the Food and Drug Administration’sContinue reading “Tixagevimab with Cilgavimab for the Prevention of COVID-19”

Tomorrow evening, we’re off to California! Today, I’m going to write a bit about the new Pfizer study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, nirmatrelvir plus ritonavir (Paxlovid) for for high-risk, non-hospitalized adults with COVID. This was a double-blind, randomized, controlled trial of 2246 patients comparing oral nirmatrelvir plus ritonavir to placebo. TheContinue reading “Nirmatrelvir plus ritonavir for adults with Covid”

Our California trip is at T-2 days! Today, I’m going to write just a bit about the article which appears on the cover of The Lancet, Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in 2019, a systematic analysis, by Christopher Murray from the University of Washington and colleagues. In the study, the authors estimated deathsContinue reading “Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance”

Our California countdown is at T-6 days. Meanwhile, yesterday I listened to the New England Journal of Medicine audio interview with Drs. Eric Rubin and Lindsay Baden, two of my attendings from my infectious diseases fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The podcast was entitled “COVID as an Endemic Disease.” One point of emphasis fromContinue reading “COVID-19 as an Endemic Disease”

Yesterday I attended the Emory University infectious diseases conference (it is open to the general public), and enjoyed learning the latest about influenza from Dr. Anice Lowen, associate professor of medicine. And frankly, it was sobering. The current burden of seasonal influenza is substantial – the number of deaths from flu is comparable to theContinue reading “On Influenza”