Infectious Disease

Omicron and misinformation: When will we learn from past mistakes?

Physician

December 15, 2021

Did anyone else’s heart sink when you heard about the new COVID variant? Mine sure did. I wasn’t surprised when I heard the news. I felt numb as I know we are in for a challenging period, partially because the colder months are quickly approaching and Omicron has already been identified in numerous countries globally. Echoing the words of a science-fiction movie, “the alien(variant) in amongst us” resonated with many …

Viral upper respiratory infections in the age of COVID

David Epstein, MD

Conditions

December 14, 2021

Your toddler has had a cough and runny, stuffy nose on and off for months. They also attend daycare and have a sibling in preschool. You are worried about the symptoms. You are also exhausted because your child’s coughing and congestion is not letting either of you sleep at night. Does this sound familiar?

You ask yourself, “Is this normal?” and “What is wrong with my child?”

Well, to calm your fears, …

Why patients refuse the COVID-19 vaccination

Hayward Zwerling, MD

Physician

December 13, 2021

The U.S. is progressively falling behind other countries when rated on the percent of the population that is vaccinated against COVID-19.

I ask all my patients if they are vaccinated against COVID-19 and estimate that 80 percent are vaccinated. The unvaccinated can be unscientifically categorized into three groups, highlighting three real but anonymous patients.

Politically indifferent, medically uneducated, under peer pressure

The first patient is in their 5th decade of …

Is Descovy really the better option?

Frank F. Zhou

Meds

December 12, 2021

When the FDA approved Gilead’s Truvada (emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil) for HIV PrEP in 2012, it was a revolutionary step forward. The drug was safe and up to 99 percent effective in preventing HIV infection in at-risk individuals.

Then in 2019, Gilead received FDA approval for a second drug for PrEP called Descovy (emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide), with equivalent efficacy to Truvada. Recent research has shown that by the end of 2020, …

Read more…

Is Descovy really the better option?

A COVID and Omicron update with Jeremy Faust, MD [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

December 11, 2021

Welcome to an expedited episode of The Podcast by KevinMD. Jeremy Faust is an emergency physician who can be reached on Twitter @JeremyFaust and on Instagram @JeremySamuelFaust. He also publishes the newsletter, Inside Medicine.

Transcript

Kevin Pho, MD: Hi, and welcome to the …

Tired of the dying: Finding parallels in COVID-19 and HIV

Aldebra Schroll, MD

Conditions

December 11, 2021

Recently, while visiting with a colleague in our doctor’s lounge, I blurted out, “I’m tired of the dying.” He looked at me quizzically, “But you’re the hospice doctor.” True, death comes with my work, but the recent volume of and the loss of younger patients have been especially difficult. It reminds me of an earlier time we faced a new virus.

As we endure this pandemic well into its second year, …

Wear your mask to protect your family

Ton La, Jr., MD, JD

Conditions

December 10, 2021

Below is a story a patient shared with me about how he went from being against mask-wearing to wearing one every day.

***

Last year, my mom died from stage 4 lung cancer. Before she passed, she received her transplant at this hospital, but it was too late for her.

Now, I am fighting cancer. Lymphoma. Stage 2 verging on Stage 3.

Before my diagnosis last summer, I never wore a mask. I walked …

Read more…

Wear your mask to protect your family

Endemic COVID-19 will be a cause for celebration

Robert Pearl, MD

Conditions

December 9, 2021

There was a time, not long ago, when COVID-19 was one of the scariest things on earth. In the summer of 2020, scientists were stunned as infections climbed and deaths spiked. They couldn’t say (exactly) how the virus spread, how deadly it was or how to cure it. ICU beds were filling up while officials scrambled to retrofit local …

The American public deserves more COVID-19 vaccine options

Tayson DeLengocky, DO

Conditions

December 8, 2021

Covaxin, an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and the only vaccine to have been proven effective against all variants including the Delta variant in a Phase III clinical study, deserves to be tested in clinical trials in the U.S. for potential CDC/FDA approval for use in the U.S.

As we are about to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the vaccine rollout against COVID-19, we would do well to remember that despite the progress …

Parallels between Alec Baldwin’s Rust movie set and the unvaccinated

David M. Mitchell, MD, PhD

Physician

December 3, 2021

The recent tragic shooting on the Rust movie set shocked me. A good friend, a prominent cinematographer in Hollywood, texted me his blunt assessment: “Live rounds on a set. Ridiculously unprofessional.”

Humans are naturally shaken when there is a senseless loss of life. Or are they?

As a hospital physician who has personally watched many people die unnecessarily of COVID-19, I found this fatal filming accident to be a powerful metaphor that …

Omicron: 2 infectious disease physicians on the new COVID variant [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

November 28, 2021

Welcome to this special episode of The Podcast by KevinMD, where I interview two infectious disease physicians on the COVID Omicron variant. They share their unique perspective on this threat answer the following questions: How do these early days of the Omicron variant contrast with past variants? What do …

Think TikTok is smarter than me? Then I’m not the right doctor for you.

Bari B. Cunningham, MD

Physician

November 27, 2021

“I don’t think I am the right doctor for you.”

In over 20 years of practice, I had never uttered those words before this year. Now, as my medical assistant of 20 years remarks, almost two years into the pandemic, I say it almost daily.

I like to think I am a good physician and listener, spending most of the outpatient visit time trying to understand what it is that the patient …

Will the COVID Omicron variant change the world again? [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

November 27, 2021

“The variant keeps me up at night a little bit because it has 32 mutations in the spike protein, in contrast to the Delta mutation.

But it’s not just the mutations. In terms of biological plausibility, it’s plausible that it could be more evasive against immunity. Not just vaccines, but …

Anger toward the unvaccinated will only cause more harm

Stephanie Sun, MD

Physician

November 24, 2021

Even though COVID infection rates are decreasing, health care providers are still struggling with how to handle unvaccinated patients. Last month, a Colorado hospital system, UCHealth, stated it won’t provide transplants to patients who choose to remain unvaccinated. In August, a family doctor in Alabama posted a sign refusing to see patients who are unvaccinated against COVID.

It’s not just an issue of ethics — …

How to end the misinformation pandemic

Ellen F. Foxman, MD, PhD

Physician

November 24, 2021

Like any stressor, COVID-19 has revealed great strengths in science and medicine. But it exposed weaknesses that could have been tolerated before but now are untenable.

Perhaps the best example of both is COVID vaccines — the success they have had against the COVID pandemic and the fuel they have provided for an equally dangerous pandemic: the misinformation pandemic.

There was no guarantee that a COVID vaccine would even be possible, and …

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How to end the misinformation pandemic

A children’s guide to getting vaccinated, in comic form

Emily Watters, MD

Conditions

November 21, 2021

Emily Watters is a physician and created a children’s guide to getting vaccinated, in comic form. (Click to enlarge.)

A dark corner of Reddit shines light on how misinformation kills

Geeta Nayyar, MD, MBA

Physician

November 19, 2021

I’ve been struggling to find the right way to highlight how relentlessly misinformation is killing us. I could say that another World War II would only be 60 percent as deadly for Americans as this misinformation-fueled pandemic. I could say that if the deceased victims of COVID-19 were their own state, they’d have a larger population than Wyoming, Vermont, or Alaska.

But these examples fall short in two important ways.

First, they …

A message from a physician treating COVID patients

Bernard Leo Remakus, MD

Conditions

November 18, 2021

Most of the people who debate COVID-19 vaccination are not physicians. Of those who are, not all have treated COVID-19 patients. I have.

As soon as COVID-19 vaccines became available, my entire practice was vaccinated. One elderly patient was not because he was hospitalized in another state. He acquired COVID-19 there and died.

With the availability of testing and treatment, I have routinely tested patients who were symptomatic or exposed to the …

But my children are not vaccinated

Anonymous

Physician

November 9, 2021

Go to the store, support small businesses … But my children are not vaccinated.
Go out to eat; buy local … But my children are not vaccinated.
Go back to work; go travel… But my children are not vaccinated.
Come celebrate, please enjoy … But my children are not vaccinated.

Kids need people; they need play … But my children are not vaccinated.
Kids need sports and activities … But my children are not vaccinated.
Kids …

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But my children are not vaccinated

To Aaron Rodgers, from a physician and Packers fan

Allison Neitzel, MD

Physician

November 9, 2021

I’m a doctor passionate about public health and public policy born and raised in Wisconsin and educated at the Medical College of Wisconsin (the same institute that bestowed Mr. Rodgers an honorary degree in 2018). I’m also a Packers shareholder, as is my father, a practicing physician in the state. I cheered you on for your 2011 Super Bowl win from my college dorm freshman year and even had an …

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