Articles By Cassandra Calabrese, DO
Herpes Zoster Vaccine Update
Shingrix (GSK), the herpes zoster subunit vaccine (a two-shot series), was approved by the FDA in Fall 2018 and is currently approved for use in adults 50 years and older.
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Influenza Vaccine Updates And Pearls At ACR 2019
As we enter flu season it is of the utmost importance that we remember to assess our patients’ influenza vaccine status at each visit.
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Autoimmunity in the Setting of Primary Immunodeficiency
There are many avenues for interdisciplinary collaboration within rheumatology, as our specialty encompasses every organ system and diseases with protean manifestations.
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TRIPLE Trial Results
Pegloticase has become an excellent option for management of patients with chronic refractory gout, although treatment may be limited by the development of anti-drug antibodies that lead to loss of serum urate (sUA) lowering effect.
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High Dose Flu Vaccine for Patients Younger Than 65?
We are diving head first into flu season and we need to prepare ourselves. Last year we now know that 80,000 Americans died from influenza.
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CDC Lyme Disease Surveillance Report
Lyme disease, caused by the spirochete Borrelia burdofgeri, is the most common vector-borne illness reported in the U.S.
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Practice Patterns of PJP Prophylaxis Among ID Physicians
While the incidence of pneumocystis pneumonia (PJP) is low is patients with rheumatologic diseases the mortality is quite high compared to PJP in patients with HIV and infection can be prevented with appropriate prophylaxis.
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Comparative Risk of Biologic Therapies in RA Patients Undergoing Elective Arthroplasty
During today’s plenary session Micheal D. George, et al. presented results of a study that sought to compare risk of post-op infections in RA patients undergoing arthroplasty exposed to biologic DMARDs versus methotrexate.
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Low-dose Bactrim Safe with Methotrexate in AAV
A high proportion of GPA patients receive pneumocystis prophylaxis, usually with TMP-SMX (Bactrim), and drug interactions are always a concern.
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Increasing Incidence of Paradoxical Autoimmune Disease with Biologics?
With the increasing use of biologic therapies to treat rheumatic disease has come an awareness of a small but real risk of developing de novo autoimmune disease.
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