Bugs, drugs, and optimal duration for antibiotic therapy? New frontiers in HIV treatment? Listen this week as Kieran and Jay Spiegel, a resident in General Internal Medicine in Toronto, discuss two studies:
It’s hard to remember what the right drug is to treat a certain bug, let alone the correct duration of therapy. Further, for many conditions, the optimal duration of a course of antibiotics has not yet been established! So let’s try shortening it to make it easier. Kieran and Jay discuss a study which examines whether, in patients with community acquired pneumonia, 5 days of treatment with antibiotics is as safe and effective as longer courses of treatment.
Even with major advances in HIV treatment and management, there were 2 million cases of HIV transmission in 2014. How can this number be lowered? Kieran and Jay discuss a study which assessed early antiretroviral therapy as prevention for HIV-1 transmission.
It wouldn’t be The Rounds Table without a Good Stuff segment: What does the race to create a Zika vaccine look like? How did an Aboriginal community first encounter Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease? Listen to find out!
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The Papers
1. Duration of antibiotics in Community-Acquired Pneumonia: http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2536189
2. Antiretroviral therapy for prevention of HIV transmission: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1600693#t=article
Good Stuff
1. Zika vaccination: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/08/22/the-race-for-a-zika-vaccine
2. Kuru and CJD: http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/09/06/482952588/when-people-ate-people-a-strange-disease-emerged
Music Credits (Creative Commons)
In your Robotic Heart – Nicolai Heidlas https://soundcloud.com/nicolai-heidlas/in-your-robotic-heart
Drive – Nicolai Heidlas https://soundcloud.com/nicolai-heidlas/drive-fresh-upbeat-pop-background-music
Vintage Dream – Nicolai Heidlas https://soundcloud.com/nicolai-heidlas/vintage-dream-loungejazzy-background-music
All tracks have been modified for the purposes of this podcast.