Bala-what? Balamuthia madrillari! Admittedly, this amoeba rarely shows up as a cause of infection even for infectious disease specialists like myself. Infections by Balamuthia mandrillari are of the sort that feature only on esoteric board examinations. Â I have never seen it. This amoeba was first identified in the 1990s and to date has probable caused […]
Superbug Sweeps through US media
The news waves are overflowing with reports that “the new superbug” which originated in India has reached the US shores and is “gaining ground”. Here and here. I don’t mean to downplay anything but I’m just a tad annoyed. So let me count the reasons why: First, it was bound to happen. Microbes are smarter than we […]
HIV & the Elderly
This week, the Annals of Internal Medicine reported a study in which older men taking erectile dysfunction drugs such as Viagra had twice the rate of sexually transmitted illnesses (STIs) than their non-medicated peers. I’m not surprised. I remember a man, almost an octogenarian, who presented with what seemed like a bad case of flu. […]
Whooping Cough (Pertussis) kills!
Last month, a baby in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania died of pertussis (whooping cough). I suppose death from pertussis (or any other vaccine-preventable illness) is preferable to the speculated possibility of life with autism for vaccine nay-sayers. Thank goodness I’m not a pediatrician because I don’t think I would last long trying to convince parents […]
WSJ: AMA Weighs Whether Docs Should Hang Up Their White Coats
Perusing the WSJ health blogs I came across this post: AMA Weighs Whether Docs Should Hang Up Their White Coats Apparently, one of the policy questions addressed at the recent annual AMA conference was whether doctors should forgo their white coats for infection control reasons. In Britain, ties, jewelry, and long sleeves have already been […]