48th ICAAC and IDSA joint meeting

Reports from the conference

We were not able to attend the 48th International Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) this year, which has gradually reduced its focus on HIV, although this year the meeting was combined annual IDSA meeting.

Unfortunately, ICAAC continues to make few presentations available online, and only limited access to abstracts (which usually are removed within a month or so of the meeting finishing.

Nevertheless, some of the interesting studies reported below include:

• Antiretroviral Pregnancy Registry finds no increase in congenital anomalies with exposure to tenofovir

• No association between maternal antiretrovirals in pregnancy and congenital anomalies

• Pharmacokinetics of saquinavir/ritonavir in pregnancy

• Course of labour in pregnant HIV-positive women with no contraindication for vaginal delivery

• Four weeks of antiretroviral prophylaxis is sufficient for HIV-exposed infants

• HAART suppresses genital tract HIV shedding in HIV/HSV co-infected women

• Efavirenz significantly reduces levels of some oral contraceptives

• Lack of efficacy of isoniazid (INH) prophylaxis and PK evaluation in South African infants

• 48-week data for darunavir/ritonavir (DRV/r) in treatment-experienced children and adolescents

• Greater lipodystrophy risk in older US children with low viral load

• Studies of pipeline drugs: RDEA806, PRO140, bevirimat, elvucitabine

• Maraviroc trial results reanalysed using more sensitive CCR5 tropism test

• Other antiretroviral studies at ICAAC: Early HAART may improve survival; Raltegravir in treatment-naïve patients; Darunavir is comparable to lopinavir in treatment-naïve patients; Atazanavir is comparable to lopinavir in treatment-naïve patients.

• High rate of rash in HIV-negative volunteers combining raltegravir and darunavir

• Bone loss in SMART study

• Parathyroid hormone and vitamin D levels in patients using tenofovir

• Haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) may underestimate glycaemia in patients with diabetes on HIV therapy

• Statin use in HIV-positive patients

• HIV reinfection reported in 10% of couples in Zambian study

• Drug interaction studies with approved drugs

• Non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is common among HIV-positive patients

Unless stated otherwise, all references are to the Programme and Abstract of the 48th Annual ICAAC. Abstracts only remain online (follow the link to the Programme Planner) for a short period after the conference ends.

http://www.icaacidsa2008.org