This weeks CDC MMWR reports an unfortunate case where a patient with kidney failure who received a kidney transplant from a living donor also acquired HIV/AIDS. The case, the first of its kind since 1989, is remarkable not because we don’t know that organ transplantation come with risks but rather it highlights the inadequacies of […]
Balamuthia mandrillari Transmitted through Organ Transplantation
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. I have never seen it. This amoeba was first identified in the 1990s and to date has probable caused […]
Infectious Diseases Here I Come
Orientation at my new hospital is this week. I’m going to be an Infectious Diseases fellow (ID fellow) for the next 2 years training to become an Infectious Diseases specialist (ID specialist). Why does everyone wrinkle their nose when they hear this? And why do other medicine folks keep asking me why on earth I want […]