Study Group: HIV Specialists (US)
Council Members in this Study Group: 367
This study group may include physicians, care providers, and researchers specializing in internal medicine, cardiology, oncology, dermatology, emergency medicine, family medicine, neurology, obstetrics-gynecology, psychiatry, radiology, nursing, optometry, genetics, and mental health. It may also include experts knowledgeable on diagnostic labs, disease management, medical devices, long term care, surgery centers, health management, pharma, and biotechnology, among others.
Contact Gerson Lehrman Group to survey or consult with members of this Study Group
Leading institutions connect with members of this Study Group through GLG
Leading Experts in this Study Group
- Donald Thea
Professor of International Health
Boston University School of Medicine - CC
Donald Thea, MD, is a Professor of International Health at Boston University School of Public Health, Massachusetts. He has also been the Director of the Clinical Research Unit. This unit oversees a portfolio of international clinical research in the...
- Steven Fine
Physician
UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER MEDICAL CENTERSteven Fine, MD, PhD, is an HIV and Infectious Disease specialist, an Assistant Professor in the Infectious Disease Unit at the University of Rochester Medical Center, and Staff Physician at Community Health Network. His clinical expertise is all aspects...
- George Beatty
Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCOGeorge Beatty, MD, MPH, is Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), and has been on the faculty since 1998. He served as Director of the UCSF's HIV Clinical Trials Unit at San Francisco General Hospital...
GLG NewsSM Analyses by this Study Group's Leading Experts(?)
Opinions and analyses expressed in GLG News are solely those of the author. See the Terms of Use for details.
-
PCR detetction of Salmonella food contamination not yet ready for prime time.
May 22, 2007
Analysis by: Donald Thea, Professor of International Health,New Test May Allow For Rapid Detection Of Salmonella In Meat | www.medicalnewstoday.com
PCR is an invaluable tool in the research setting but has only limited usefulness in a clinical context and, in my opinion, even more limited application for broad-based surveillance applications such as this. While PCR done well under laboratory conditions with samples spiked with known quantities of salmonella are able to be done with exquisite sensitivity (picking up all instances of salmonella) and specificity (not falsely picking salmonella when it isn't there), but getting these levels of test performance in an abbatoir or meat-packing facility will be challanging. PCR is notoriously susceptible to cross contamination and is very demanding of proper laboratory technique. Its ability to detect minutely small quantities (e.g. one bacteria or virus) of a pathogen make it prone to false positives. There are also many species of non-pathgenic Salmonella that might be detected (depending on the configuration of the primers used in the PCR) which may also result in false positives.
-
Simple potent and safe. This HIV combination will be hard to beat.
August 4, 2006
Analysis by: Steven Fine, Physician,New AIDS Pill Simplifies Treatment | www.therapeuticsdaily.com
A three drug "cocktail" for treating HIV all in one pill once a day.
The individual components used together but as individual pills have already proven to be among the most potent and safest regimens for patients first starting HIV treatment.
Trials of this combination have not suggested any increase in resistance compared with other combinations. -
Limited human-H5N1 to-human transmission documented
August 2, 2006
Analysis by: Donald Thea, Professor of International Health,Bird Flu Passed From Son to Father, W.H.O. Says | www.nytimes.com
This is the best and most well-documented case of human-to-human (H2H) transmission that has yet occurred.
Genetic testing (we are told but data not yet released) indicates that a 'minor' mutation has occurred but it isn't considered to be one that confers more efficient H2H transmission.
H2H transmission as was documented between the father and son here, has likely occurred before but the issue of concern is the high infection rate within one family cluster (see previous post). -
The dreaded start of Human to Human Pandemic Flu transmission? - Well not probably
August 2, 2006
Analysis by: Donald Thea, Professor of International Health,Bird Flu Passed From Son to Father, W.H.O. Says | www.nytimes.com
In a closed meeting in Indonesia on Friday June 23 WHO and other experts have pronounced that the epidemiologic investigation of a family cluster of 7 cases (6 fatal) that occured at the end of May in Indonesia probably resulted in one true 3-way transmission event (person A to person B to person C).
If so, this will be the best documented individual event thus recorded. From an AP report the evidence supporting this finding is that a 'very small' mutation has occured, which was found in the last two infected individuals in the transmission chain (father and son). It is also reported that the mutations were enough to identify the concordance of the viral strains infecting these two individuals but not extensive enough to promote facilitated person-to-person spread of the virus.
Fortunate, if true because this specific strain was highly lethal (6 of 7 deaths) in this particular family. In the absence of any plausible explanation for this high lethality in this cluster, it has been suggested that this particular family has a naturally occuring genetic susceptibility to H5N1 avian influenza. No evidence has been provided to support this theory, however. -
H5N1 Human Influenza: more and more like 1918 Spanish influenza
June 15, 2006
Analysis by: Donald Thea, Professor of International Health,Differential Expression of Chemokines and Their Receptors in Adult and Neonatal Macrophages Infected with Human or Avian Influenza Viruses. | www.journals.uchicago.edu
This paper presents in vitro data which shows that monocyte-derived macrophages - the cells which largely flood the lungs during disease - elaborate much higher levels of chemokines to infection with H5N1 than to human influenza strains. These high levels are consistent with the 'cytokine storm' picture of rapidly progressive immune dysfunction characterized by human infection with H5N1.
Moreover, adult macrophages appear to be able to produce far higher levels of the chemokines: CCL2, CCL3, CCL5 and CXCL10. This is strong invitro support for the age-specific severity referred to above and that profound immune dysregulation is the major clinical event in severe H5N1 infection.
Members in this Study Group include these company types:
- Academic Medical Center/Hospital or Clinic
- Office Based Private Practice or Clinic
- Non-Academic Community Hospital or Clinic
Members in this Study Group often have these job titles:
- Physician - Attending Physician
- Physician - Director
- Medical Director
- Director
- Owner
- Physician - Division Head
Related Study Groups
GLG Live Meetings with this Study Group's Leading Experts (?)
February 23, 2007 | New York
GLGi: Emerging Therapies for HIV Grand RoundsGLG Webcasts & Teleconferences
Leading Experts in HIV Specialists (US) have not participated in any GLG webcasts.