Primary Care Corner with Geoffrey Modest MD: OTC supplements — not what they say they are…

By: Dr. Geoffrey Modest  The New York Times had a rather remarkable article on Feb 3rd noting that in a NY attorney general’s investigation, approx 80% of herbal supplements from 4 retailers “contained none of the herbs listed on their labels”, but included “cheap fillers like rice and house plants, or substances that could be hazardous to […]

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Primary Care Corner with Geoffrey Modest MD: Meningococcal B vaccine

By: Dr. Geoffrey Modest The FDA has recently approved the use of serogroup B meningocococcal vaccines In brief: –current meningococcal vaccines do not include serogroup B because the capsule is not immunogenic, though serogroup B is a very common cause of meningococcal disease: of the 500 cases of meningococcal disease in the US in 2012, 160 were […]

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Primary Care Corner with Geoffrey Modest MD: Syphilis treatment in HIV positive patients

By: Dr. Geoffrey Modest A recent article assessed retrospectively the utility of a single shot of benzathine penicillin 2.4 M units (BPG) for the treatment of early syphilis in HIV positive patients (see DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciu888​), as is recommended by the CDC. Baseline: –US Military HIV Natural History Study cohort of 350 people with 478 cases of early syphilis […]

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Primary Care Corner with Geoffrey Modest MD: 2015 immunization schedules — adult and pedi

By: Dr. Geoffrey Modest The new annual guidelines for 2015 were published for adults and children/adolescents by the ACIP (Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices). Adults (see Ann Intern Med. 2015;162:214-223, which includes the immunization schedules as Tables)​: –As per usual, there are great summary tables. Figure 1 is the color-coded list of vaccines for different ages, with comments on […]

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