CMV Connections: Paul-Bunnell Negative Mononucleosis and ‘Changelings’

Mononuclesosis is an EBV infection that can be diagnosed with the heterophil antibody test developed by Paul and Bunnell. The test is based on the agglutination of sheep erythrocytes with the blood of EBV infected patients. P-B heterophil serology is negative in ‘mononucleosis’ caused by CMV. In this day and Continue reading CMV Connections: Paul-Bunnell Negative Mononucleosis and ‘Changelings’

Prospecting for New Antibiotics

The QIDP designation was introduced in 2012 to incentivize drug development in antiinfectives. QIDP came with several attractive features, such as prolongation of patent life, FDA expedited review and more.  In addition, FDA made it quite easy to garner the label.  As you can see, there is really no downside to Continue reading Prospecting for New Antibiotics

Sulfonamides Revisited, With an Emphasis on Dapsone

The sulfonamide moiety is a remarkable structure giving rise to diverse drugs in arious therapeutic areas such as antibiotics, antidiabetics, diuretics and anti-inflammatory agents. In regards to antibiotics, sulfonamides are in common use as antifungals (P. jiroveci), antiparasitics (toxoplasmosis, cyclospora, isospora, malaria) antibacterials (including against nocardia and certain ones causing STDs) Continue reading Sulfonamides Revisited, With an Emphasis on Dapsone