Joseph Cherabie MD MSc (They/He)

RFK Jr’s health department to halt $500m in mRNA vaccine research Agency to end 22 federal contracts, questioning safety of technology credited with helping end Covid pandemic

He must love infections and cancer.
A short list of what’s been achieved or is in active development with this tech:
– Seasonal flu (Phase 3)
– RSV (FDA-approved, 2024)
– CMV (Phase 3)
– HIV (early trials)
– Rapid-response design for emerging pathogens
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

"Don't take medical advice from me" - RFK Jr

#IDSky #HIVSky #STISky

And some stuff on congenital syphilis, some interesting data on 1 vs. 3 shots of Bicillin for syphilis of unknown or late duration, and Mgen.

It was a great conference, lots of fun, great colleagues, and STI folks are the best!

There were some awesome posters that I've included below about T. vaginalis, LEN, rectal Men, T. palladum PCR

Our team at WashU did some amazing work! Anne Trolard won a young investigators award! @dlhong.bsky.social and myself got to present our preliminary results of the LIMIT Trial showing lidocain significantly reduces pain at 10 mins after bicillin shot, and Dr. Germysha Little presented on CHWs

4 (Cont) - @drjenellstewart.bsky.social et al looked at doxyPEP given once weekly as directly observed therapy in cis- women. Data showed a trend towards 61% decline in chlamydia (p-0,11). A reminder, this is just a pilot, but very exciting to see doxyPEP works (when taken)

3 (Cont) - They showed that there was a median 4 fold lower titer in the doxyPEP group compared to nonusers, however the extent to which this was due to doxyPEP use vs. syphilis history is unclear. Still fascinating and something to be looked into further
4- We have an update on dPEP trial (pilot)!

2- DoxyPEP clearly works at a population level and data from Seattle showed it worked among cis-women, even though it hasn't been used extensively in that group!)
3- A study from @syphilis-sleuth.bsky.social looked into the effect of DoxyPEP on RPR titers...

Alrighty, post vacay and ready to talk about @stihiv2025.org
Some amazing research and presentations:
1- Intense discussion about the need for screening for G/C in asymptomatic MSM. The evidence wasn't fully compelling but what it speaks to is the need for shared decision making in our field

Got to present @stihiv2025.org on risk based messaging in sexual health settings, focusing on person centered language, removal of risk based questions, and overall trying to not make your patients feel awful for their sex lives

Thanks friend!!

Also am not live posting from the STI/HIV World Congress, I’ll share my fav findings but am too busy actually being present and listening, talking with friends, and generally enjoying my conference time

Hugging HIV and STIs is therapeutic #STIHIV2025 @stihiv2025.org @syphilis-sleuth.bsky.social @drjenellstewart.bsky.social

Enrolling more

Got to present the LIMIT Trial @stihiv2025.org looking at adding lidocaine to prefilled Bicillin shots to see if it could affect pain at 10 mins and 24hrs after injection vs control w/saline. 4 pt decline in pain at 10 mins, no difference at 24 hrs. This is prelim analysis but is promising #STISky

Just your regular reminder about person centered language @stihiv2025.org, words like “problematic”, “infected”, IV drug users, HIV positive ppl, high risk behavior/individuals, and the new for me “PrEPers”, are not patient centered. Language matters so act like it

This was our biggest fear, having unqualified ppl dictate what insurance can and should cover. By the looks of it, HIV prevention isn’t high on the list of priorities for this administration, based off the cuts to HIV prevention that have already occurred

Nope…not ok…

Who will I see at the STI HIV World Congress in Montreal?!

Rolex? I'm still waiting for mine to come in lol

How’s the 5G coming in for ya? Also what about those millions we docs are receiving from vaccines eh?

Today I’m sad for multiple reasons:
My best friend dealing with incurable cancer
Attacks on public health and the care of my patients and community
Academia undervaluing myself and other junior faculty
Ongoing genocide against Palestinians
Removal of global health aid
General lack of humanity

On a day that the congress has decided to go on an early recess and take 6 weeks of paid leave it is important to remember that in the U.S there is no federal law that guarantees paid maternity leave or family leave.
Just something to think about in case you need more things to think about today.

The realities of living with HIV have changed Dr Tristan Barber and Tom Hayes-Isaacs, an activist living with HIV, discuss how advances in medicine now allow many people living with HIV to lead full and healthy lives.

Check out this new article that @tristanjbarber.bsky.social, and myself, wrote with #ViiVHealthcare for @gaytimes.bsky.social magazine about how life with #HIV has changed - and why it's important to be part of making decisions about your care and treatment. #HIVHasChanged

#AD #Sponsored

STI Clinical Nugget: daily IM injections for the treatment of syphilis is PUNITIVE and not an alternative to IV treatment. Do not do this. Get the patient first line treatment which is IV penicillin and make it work. If not, discuss with an ID specialist, but DO NOT DO DAILY IM INJECTIONS.

This is what we go through when we do "peer to peers", that's if you qualify for that level of discussion with insurance companies (sometimes your hospital hasn't paid into that level). I have never spoken with an ID trained doctor, and they determine if sth is approved or denied.

More choices is always good! Excited for these results on once a month oral PrEP.

Got to make a patient's day by offering them doxyPEP. They go to sex parties and fully enjoy them, are on HIV PrEP, and had never been offered doxyPEP until today. They were so excited to be able to prevent STIs further. This intervention is about removing anxiety from sex, which I love

Today I reviewed a paper for an academic journal. Please stop using “health literacy” as an excuse for why people don’t take up an intervention. It isn’t that they “don’t know better”, it’s that they have their reasons that are valid and it’s your job to figure out what those reasons are…