2nd IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis and Treatment, 13-16 July 2003, Paris

1 September 2003. Related: Conference reports, Conference index, IAS 2nd Paris 2003.

Introduction

This biannual conference alternates with the the International AIDS (World AIDS) conferences.

Location is also planned to alternate between a developed country and one where access to treatment is still not widely available – the first meeting was held in Buenos Aires in 2001 – in order to maintain a balance between new science and the importance of access issues.

The second meeting – this year in Paris – attracted 6,000 delegates from 120 countries. One thousand eight hundred abstracts were received, 180 of which were selected for oral presentations and more than 900 for poster presentations. None of them however were available online as we went to press – although webcasts and other resources for all conference plenaries and selected other sessions are provided by the Kaiser Family Foundation online; they do not include the facility to see the slides being referred to in the lectures:

http://www.kaisernetwork.org

Webcasts include:

Main plenaries

• Challenges and lessons learned in implementing antiretroviral therapy in the developing world
• Host/virus mechanisms in the molecular pathogenesis of HIV
• New antiretroviral drugs and therapeutic strategies
• HIV vaccine research: the state of the science
• HIV entry: insights into viral tropism, pathogenesis, and antiviral therapy
• Mechanisms and management of metabolic complications associated with highly active antiretroviral therapy

Forum Lectures

• HIV drug resistance
• The scaling-up of antiretroviral therapy in developing countries
• Mother-to-child HIV transmission

Keynote Lectures

• 20 Years of HIV Science
• From Science to Action: Challenges in Managing AIDS

Reports in this issue of HTB are:

• Nevirapine and MTCT: the single-dose backlash

• Triple nucleoside combinations fail patients again

• Nucleoside-sparing regimens

• Dual boosted PIs in salvage therapy

• BMS reports on atazanavir efficacy and safety in treatment experienced patients

• Unsupervised treatment interruptions are associated with increased risk of AIDS or death

• Uridine as a potential treatment for NRTI related mitochondrial toxicity

• Long term exposure to nucleoside analogues and peripheral nerve function

• Step-wise intervention eases diarrhoea linked to PI nelfinavir (Viracept) therapy

• First results from ESPRIT study: CD4 response to IL-2 is associated with higher nadir and baseline CD4 and younger age

• Lessons learned from early HAART in acute HIV infection

• CD4 cell reconstitution is significantly slower in older patients

• Pharmacology studies at the 2nd IAS conference

• Studies highlight problems of rectal disease in HIV-positive patients

Further reports will also be included in the next issue.

All references are from the programme and abstracts of The 2nd IAS conference on HIV pathogenesis and treatment, Paris, France 13-16 July 2003 unless otherwise stated.