Here’s a confession few board-certified ID doctors will make — there was a brief period when I thought ivermectin could very well be an effective treatment for COVID-19. It wasn’t when the in vitro...

Our smart immune system with multiple layers of defense and a virus with less intrinsic pathogenicity will help us win the latest variant battle

We don’t know. That part is easy. Also easy is that case numbers really are falling — it’s not just reduced testing — and it’s happening pretty much everywhere. Urban areas and rural. Red states and...

The chief of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital will take a top role in helping the new administration curtail the coronavirus pandemic.

This has become a common refrain among the cautious—and it’s wrong.

At this point in the post-vaccine era of the pandemic, we all know people who have had COVID-19 despite being fully vaccinated. Patients, coworkers, family, friends. The reason these breakthroughs...

Even more transmissible new variants means that more people will get infected or vaccinated, and that's how it will all end

A confounding array of Covid rules and lax enforcement of mask wearing may have sent infected passengers on two KLM flights from South Africa on to “who knows where.”

Quick answer — it’s complicated. Let’s start with a clinical anecdote — rightfully considered the weakest form of evidence, yet paradoxically holding great power over us because we’re imperfect...

Why has the United States handled this pandemic so badly? The Editors note that although we came into this crisis with enormous advantages, our current political leaders have demonstrated that they...

Three works of art sit on my father’s desk in his office, gifts from his children from when we were in grade school. From my brother Ben, there’s a little bear, or perhaps it’s some other burly...

I’m no immunologist — a fact made vividly obvious to me several years ago when asked to teach a weekly medical student section that included cases and problem sets. The challenge was that the course...

Sometimes there is someone so good at something that there is universal agreement we are witnessing something special. Babe Ruth, Serena Williams, and Michael Jordan competing at their peaks. Charles...

In a highly immune adult population, median severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) viral loads by cycle threshold and antigen measure

In-progress (collecting post-transmittal)

Something quite remarkable happened as Omicron tore through the United States in December and January. Despite triggering a record number of cases — which should have made people more concerned about...

Perhaps you caught this week’s 60 Minutes, featuring the work done by Partners in Health, the group founded and run by Paul Farmer. (If he reads this, he’ll no doubt want to correct my description of...

Never did I expect to have a calling. Then came the pandemic.

The secret to doing a great clinical trial is quite simple. Here, I’ll share it with you: Come up with an important clinical question for which there’s true equipoise. Choose primary and secondary...

It takes time after vaccination for immunity to the virus to build up, and no vaccine is 100% effective. Plus, scientists don't yet know if the vaccine stops viral spread. Here's what's known so far.

(What I’m sincerely hoping we’ll be hearing in an upcoming press conference, and soon.) Dear Fellow Americans, I’d like to take a brief moment in today’s press briefing to say something that is...

One thing we ID doctors know — that other clinicians simply don’t — is how long to treat a patient with antibiotics. I was reminded of this special power by these recent events: An excellent fellow...

One thing about the COVID-19 pandemic — other important non-COVID ID news gets crowded out. As a prime example, take HPTN 083, a major clinical trial in HIV prevention. The results are a big deal,...

At the IDSA meeting in 2012, John Bartlett gave a lecture called, “Infectious Diseases Update for the HIV Provider” — what a great title — which was, as usual, information-packed, practical, well-r...

Preapproval trials showed that messenger RNA (mRNA)–based vaccines against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) had a good safety profile, yet these trials were subject to s...

Starting late Saturday night, and proceeding the next day — like a relentless series of coming attractions for a blockbuster summer movie or the finale of a reality TV series — we repeatedly heard...

In the podcast I did with Helen Branswell — Infectious Diseases and global health reporter for STAT — she mentioned that the flow of scientific information for the COVID-19 pandemic made the commonly...

Imagine you work at a hospital. Patients come and go, admitted through the emergency room, or electively for surgery. Or they arrive for the day — maybe it’s an outpatient visit, or to receive...

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’ve heard that some people treated for COVID-19 with nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (Paxlovid) experience a relapse in illness shortly after stopping treatment....

The C.D.C. isn’t following its own guidance to “be first, be right, be credible.”

Superbugs are spreading. We need doctors trained to treat them.

Importance Patients with COVID-19 may exhibit 25-hydroxyvitamin D deficiency, but the beneficial effects of vitamin D3 supplementation in this disease remain to be proven by randomized controlled...