Ninth Retroviruses Conference, 2002: guide to coverage at aidsmap.com

26 February 2002

Estimated reading time 3 minutes

The Ninth Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections opened on Sunday February 24 in Seattle.

The following stories have been posted by our editors covering the conference:

Chemokine blockade: first positive findings for new drug class

A disruption to the way the body produces, uses and distributes fat. Different forms of lipodystrophy include lipoatrophy (loss of subcutaneous fat from an area) and lipohypertrophy (accumulation of fat in an area), which may occur in the same person.

pilot study

Small-scale, preliminary study, conducted to evaluate feasibility, time, cost, adverse events, and improve upon the design of a future full-scale research project.

lipoatrophy

Loss of body fat from specific areas of the body, especially from the face, arms, legs, and buttocks.

salvage therapy

Any treatment regimen used after a number of earlier regimens have failed. People with HIV who have experienced side-effects and/or developed resistance to many HIV drugs receive salvage therapy, sometimes consisting of a large number of medications.

oral

Refers to the mouth, for example a medicine taken by mouth.

CMV viral load remains useful predictor of HIV disease risk

Durability and power of HAART: excellent results in real world settings

Second generation NNRTIs work for patients with NNRTI resistance

Niacin reduces abdominal fat: pilot study

ESPRIT reports substantial CD4 rises as enrollment passes 2,500

Viral load blips on salvage therapy don't predict failure

Drug resistance: if transmitted, may persist for more than 1 year

Once daily lopinavir on the way

Hard gel saquinavir equivalent to soft gel saquinavir when boosted

HIV patients of less experienced physicians die faster according to Canadian cohort study

Pegylated interferon in HIV/HCV co-infection

Rosiglitazone loses its lustre: Data on HAART-associated lipodystrophy not encouraging

HIV transmitted by human bite

First unequivocal case of HIV superinfection

HIV acquired during Dublin syphilis outbreak

HIV cultured from pharynx: potential role in oral transmission?

Tenofovir: resistance profile of non-responders becomes clearer

Abacavir: can gene test predict fatal side-effect

UK clinicians: roundtable feedback from the Ninth Annual Retroviruses Conference, Seattle

Medscape reports on lipodystrophy and metabolic complications of HAART, by Dr Graeme Moyle, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London

Note: these reports are located at the Medscape HIV/AIDS website, and will open in a new browser window. Visits to Medscape require a one-off registration. To view the full list of Medscape coverage of the Ninth Annual Retroviruses Conference, click here

The struggle to define lipodystrophy

Lipoatrophy: switching to abacavir adds a little fat but no visible change

Switching therapy to manage lipoatrophy: more evidence of limited benefits

Reductions in mitochondrial DNA occur with various NRTI backbones

Bone mineral density: other factors more important than antiretrovirals

Lipodystrophy: Are host and disease factors more important than antiretrovirals?