Infectious Disease

Infectious disease physicians and clinicians writing on KevinMD about outbreaks, antimicrobial resistance, vaccines, and the ongoing challenge of preventing and treating infection. Contributors include the physicians who treat infectious disease and the public health physicians who track it. For a maintained record of what physicians have said about vaccines and vaccine refusal since 2004, see Vaccines: what physicians say, in their own words. For what clinicians wrote during the COVID-19 pandemic as it happened, see COVID-19: what physicians wrote as it happened.

A COVID long-hauler shares her story

Ton La, Jr., MD, JD

Conditions and Diseases

October 12, 2021

According to the WHO, 10 to 20 percent of COVID-19 patients experience lingering symptoms for several months following infection. What we know as long COVID is now termed post-COVID condition as of October 6. Post COVID-19 condition occurs in individuals with a history of probable or confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, usually three months from the onset of COVID-19, with symptoms that last for at least two months and cannot be …

Read more…

A COVID long-hauler shares her story

HIV/AIDS vaccine underscores need for better health access

Alyson O’Daniel, PhD

Health Policy

October 11, 2021

“HIV has been a blessing in my life.”

Lola was a 48-year-old woman living in Denver when I interviewed her in 2002 about her HIV-positive diagnosis. She said the diagnosis improved her life in important ways; she had received income and housing support, nutritional assistance, health insurance, medication assistance and primary and infectious disease health care based on that diagnosis.

She said her sense of life’s purpose had changed, her basic needs …

Is COVID a turning point for sustainability in hospital supply chains? [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

October 10, 2021

Listen and followApple Podcasts Spotify YouTubeMore apps · Browse all episodes

“Scarcity has, in many ways, defined the COVID-19 experience in the U.S., from shortages in personal protective equipment to ICU ventilators and hospital capacity, to COVID test kits, to …

Trapped in a cauldron of suffering, medical staff are weary

Edwin Leap, MD

Physician

October 9, 2021

Sometimes I really look forward to something new. An alien race arriving on earth would be a nice start. I think we could all use a change in the news cycle. Because I am very tired of thinking about, talking about, and especially treating COVID-19.

In all of my years of medical practice, I have never seen anything that taxed the system and caused so much mayhem, while simultaneously producing such …

Clinicians are diamonds in the rough

Greg Smith, MD

Physician

October 9, 2021

According to the Smithsonian Magazine, diamonds are formed deep within the earth, about one hundred miles down in the upper mantle. As you might imagine, it is quite hot in that part of the planet, and there is a tremendous amount of pressure bearing down in that location. The brutal combination of pressure and heat is what it takes to form diamond crystals.

Now, we can’t actually travel there or even …

Read more…

Clinicians are diamonds in the rough

5 technologies that will transform medicine post-COVID

Robert Pearl, MD

Physician

October 9, 2021

When medical historians write about the coronavirus pandemic, they’ll likely focus on the slow U.S. response and failures of leadership that led to a tragically high death toll. But that will be only part of the story.

From the wreckage and devastation will emerge something few contemporary observers would expect: a brighter future for American health care.

Five technologies, all previously underappreciated and underutilized, will help …

Being a health care hero means we get free ChapStick

Anonymous

Physician

October 8, 2021

Guess what, everyone, I am a health care hero. I have been applauded by strangers. The Blue Angels flew over the hospital once in the pitch of COVID to salute us. I once sifted through a giant box of free chapsticks delivered to the hospital basement and grabbed one for my colleagues.

First of all, let me clarify: There is no such thing as a “hero.” It’s a social construct laypeople …

Why this physician is running out of sympathy

Richard J. Sagall, MD

Physician

October 6, 2021

Every day I read stories on the Internet and in the newspaper of the deaths of previously healthy people who died of COVID-19. They were good people, caring parents, working people who seemed like responsible citizens. What they all shared was not being immunized against COVID-19.

Maybe they were just “vaccine-hesitant” — one of those who wasn’t convinced of the value and safety of the vaccines. Maybe they didn’t understand the …

Getting vaccinated as a gift to others

Joseph Fennelly, MD

Physician

October 5, 2021

The anti-vaccine movement has led to a profound increase in disease and deaths, overtaxed hospitals, and drastically marginalized care for others with serious illnesses. This reality reflects a more profound cultural problem in our country. Namely the need for more innovative and creative ways to rediscover our obligation to each other to get vaccinated and to follow the best that science can offer.

No longer do we share what Alexis de …

Read more…

Getting vaccinated as a gift to others

Is it time for a true federal COVID vaccine mandate?

Shetal Shah, MD

Health Policy

October 4, 2021

President Biden recently unveiled a series of regulations aimed to increase COVID vaccination rates. Impacting up to 100 million people, the president will require government employees, businesses with 100 or more employees, and federal contractors to be immunized.

He did not go far enough.

Like many pediatricians, I have spent hours addressing parents’ concerns about receiving a COVID vaccine for themselves or their children. Whether in a hospital, clinic, grocery store, or …

Working in a rural emergency department during the pandemic

Ginelle Zimmerman, MD

Physician

October 3, 2021

I finished residency in 2020, during the height of the pandemic. We had a ceremony limited to just the graduating class; no family or friends could attend. Then my four other colleagues of the past three years and I embarked on our next steps as physicians.

Family medicine is my passion – I went to medical school loving the idea of caring for a whole family, from pregnancy through birth to …

Why we need to end social COVID and establish care to replenish joy

Victor Montori, MD

Physician

October 3, 2021

“Where do you find the most joy in your life?”

This is one of the questions the Knowledge and Evaluation Research Unit at Mayo Clinic asks people living with ongoing health conditions. Their answers give a sense of each person’s purpose, reason for being, and for doing something difficult.

The answers are myriad; typical responses include “providing for my family,” “being there for my grandchildren,” or “taking care …

I’m grateful for your trust in me. I wish it didn’t require a cancer diagnosis to win it.

Cynthia Cooper, MD

Physician

October 2, 2021

You are my favorite patient.

You’re charming and funny.

You proudly tell me you’ve just retired – having built multiple successful businesses from scratch.

You were admitted to my service with rapidly progressive respiratory failure.

Your CT shows cancer everywhere.

You are the same age as my husband.

“I’m not getting that vaccine. It’s my body. I don’t trust Biden. What about the illegals pouring over the border? These mandates are un-American.”

2020 was a good year …

There was life before COVID, but we are not yet at the point of life after COVID

Huma Farid, MD

Physician

October 1, 2021

Each weekday morning, without fail, I awake to two texts.

One is a symptom checker from my hospital.

The other is a symptom checker from my son’s elementary school.

They serve as a persistent reminder that the pandemic isn’t over, even if we would all like to pretend that it is. In fact, my morning routine is filled with reminders that the pandemic isn’t over: as I pack masks for my children (with …

How to get patients vaccinated against COVID-19 [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Medical Education

September 30, 2021

Listen and followApple Podcasts Spotify YouTubeMore apps · Browse all episodes

“While opposition to the vaccine may be hardening, pediatricians and family physicians enjoy an advantage the CDC and Dr. Fauci may not: namely, they are liked and trusted by …

“We are not that great.” Gain-of-function research highlights our hubris

Iris Kulbatski, PhD

Conditions and Diseases

September 29, 2021

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has made believers out of us. The statements “I believe in science” and “follow the science” express our collective assurance that scientific innovation will continue to serve humanity and sustain us through our pandemic weariness.

Historically, our scientific pursuits have catalyzed both extraordinary accomplishments and unimaginable atrocities. The line between the two is thin and the guardrails that protect against crossing this line are easily corroded. As a …

A prescription against COVID-19: Telehealth and ivermectin

Mia Finkelston, MD and Cynthia Horner, MD

Conditions and Diseases

September 28, 2021

It’s been in the news that several telehealth companies are offering patients access to the anti-parasite drug ivermectin, which while rumored by some to be an effective treatment for COVID-19 is unproven. As coronavirus deaths in the United States continue to rise, tracking at over 650,000 deaths to date and hovering around 1,500 each day, we need to remain hopeful, of sound mind. Most importantly, we need caregiving and doctoring …

Why pediatricians think about COVID differently

Krupa Bhojani Playforth, MD

Physician

September 27, 2021

Earlier this summer, the American Academy of Pediatrics made recommendations that contrasted with those from the CDC, emphasizing the need to do everything possible to prevent COVID infection in children. Specifically, they recommended that even vaccinated adults who were around unvaccinated children in schools continue to mask indoors. This more conservative stance initially caused confusion, but the CDC has since aligned their guidelines more closely with pediatricians. Nevertheless, there remain …

A pandemic is not a war. It’s a natural disaster.

Michel Accad, MD

Physician

September 26, 2021

The main reason we are seemingly so accepting of lockdowns and vaccine mandates is that we have been conditioned to view a pandemic or an epidemic as a war being waged on our society.

In wartime, we naturally expect civil liberties to be suspended. Likewise, the reasoning goes, during a pandemic we need to act in a unified way under some central command to fight this viral existential threat. Individual rights …

How to close the leadership challenge and end this COVID chapter

Davis Liu, MD

Physician

September 25, 2021

The reason that the United States hasn’t been able to reach higher vaccination rates is because of leadership failures. It’s really hard for leaders to lead transformational change during stable times. It’s infinitely harder to lead in a VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity)-dynamic world, but not impossible.

It’s the timeless leadership challenge.

How do you help the people you lead get from A to B?

This exchange between Fox …