I’ve often written about the low salary of infectious disease (ID) physicians as compared to other medical specialities. Much of this is due to ours being a cognitive field where we think more than we do and to the payment incentive plan being designed to reward volume and procedures more so than medical decision thinking. […]
Acute Kidney Injury with Concomitant Vancomycin & Pip/Tazo (Vancosyn, Vanczosyn, Vosyn)
Recently, a nephrologist I work with chased me down to ask my opinion of the new and interesting study that concludes concomitant vancomycin and piperacillin-tazobactam (hereforth to be called vancosyn) was more nephrotoxic than concomitant vancomycin and cefepime (vancopime). “Yes, indeed, I have heard the data but which study are you calling new?” I wondered. […]
Risky Fluoroquinolones
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a black box warning for the class of antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones which includes the popularly prescribed Levaquin (levofloxacin), Avelox (moxifloxacin), and Cipro (ciprofloxacin). The warning advises that the serious side effects associated with this class of antibiotics “generally outweigh the benefits for patients with acute sinusitis, […]
Digging in the Dirt for New Antibiotics
An article in The Telegraph caught my eye the other day. Headline “First new antibiotic in 30 years discovered in major breakthrough”. I was embarrassed to be learning about Teixobactin not from a scientific journal but from regular news media but hey, learning is learning. The article highlighted a report from a recent publication of […]
Surviving Sepsis – A Word to the Wise…
I just read a really awful heart-wrenching story in the New York Times today. It’s the story of Rory Staunton, a 12 year old boy in New York City who presented to his pediatrician’s office on a Thursday ill with fever, vomiting, and leg pain; was sent to the emergency room at NYU Langone where […]