Category: Infectious disease

MKSAP: 44-year-old man with HIV, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 44-year-old man is evaluated in the office during a routine visit. Medical history is significant for HIV diagnosed at age 25 years, hypert…

Should we write that patients are “pleasant” in medical notes?

When writing medical notes, some clinicians include an appreciation of their patient’s personality and disposition in their opening line (the “chief complaint”), or when they’re wrapping up (in the “assessment and plan&#82…

How non-video telehealth can be a cure for overprescribing antibiotics

When Dr. Fleming found penicillin mold in his Petri dishes in 1928, he had no idea of the impact he — and it — would have on global health. Penicillin and the antibiotic revolution that it triggered have saved countless lives and change world history. …

Our terrifying chickenpox problem

A Kentucky judge rejected the claims made by a teenager who sued his local health department for temporarily barring students at his school who aren’t immune against chickenpox from attending classes and participating in extracurricular activitie…

Don’t blame Chasidim, or anyone, for not vaccinating. Understand their reasons.

“Let’s ask Ben Shapiro to come speak,” the nurse practitioner said. “He’s popular.” “Or we can mention the ten plagues, since Passover is coming up,” offered a pediatrician. They were talking about countering anti-vaccine propaganda among ultra-Orthodo…

A patient’s last 24 hours

There are those 25 minutes before my workday begins that I either drive in silence, or blare the radio and jam out to pop hits priming myself for the unexpected hours ahead. When the music is loud, and the tempo is upbeat, it transports me back to bein…

4 reasons why this physician specialized in infectious disease

The last sunlight of the day was slanting through Joseph’s hospital window. As the sun descended, it burned the sky crimson, and the mists rolled away, disappearing into Rwanda’s seemingly endless hills. I had just arrived in Kigali for global health w…

4 reasons why this physician specialized in infectious disease

The last sunlight of the day was slanting through Joseph’s hospital window. As the sun descended, it burned the sky crimson, and the mists rolled away, disappearing into Rwanda’s seemingly endless hills. I had just arrived in Kigali for global health w…

Why this physician chose to specialize in infectious disease

Forgive the autobiographical nature of this post, but here’s a recap on how I started down the path to becoming an infectious disease (ID) doctor. To begin, understand that my first year of medical school was rough going. In hindsight, this wasn’t surp…

How medicine rose up to the challenge of the AIDS epidemic

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com. In the run-up to the Academy Awards this year, like many people I made a concerted effort to see most of the top-nominated pictures.  Of particular interest was Bohemian Rh…