As the COVID-19 pandemic rages in our various cities, it is important to remember that as of today there are no proven effective therapies. Still it is very difficult to watch people die despite your care. With about a thousand lives already lost to SARS-CoV-2 in the United States, everybody is scrambling to find therapeutics […]
Vancomycin – Fools Gold or the Holy Grail?
I’ve meant to write a post about the antibiotic vancomycin for many years. It is an antibiotic that has become a work-horse in so many hospitals. Many patients refer to it as “the powerful stuff”. Included in the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines, the most important medicines needed in a basic health system, it […]
Fungal Meningitis Linked to Epidural Steroid Shots in the News
137 cases, 12 deaths, 10 states and still counting… You don’t have to be an infectious disease expert to be aware of this very alarming outbreak. Public health personnel and infectious disease physicians have been hard at work and have narrowed the source of this multi-state infection to a likely contamination event occurring at New […]
Sepsis Drug XIGRIS withdrawn from worldwide markets for lack of efficacy
In what is breaking news today in the field of medicine, the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly announced that activated drotrecogin alfa (XIGRIS) is to be pulled off all markets including the United States. This drug, intended to treat severe sepsis, has been shown in the new PROWESS-SHOCK trial to be no better than placebo in […]