ASM Microbe

In this video, Ya-Chi Ho, MD, MS, PhD, instructor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and co-leader of the HIV Cure Scientific Working Group at the Johns Hopkins Center for AIDS Research, reviews the approaches to HIV cure that were discussed at ASM Microbe 2016.

Declining HIV-related morbidity and mortality following the introduction of ART has changed the needs of patients as well as clinicians. One strategy for addressing these needs, e-health care, was discussed at ASM Microbe 2016. In this guest commentary, Anna Maria Geretti, MD, PhD, of the University of Liverpool, discusses the role of e-health care in the treatment of patients with HIV.

The role of ART in treating and preventing HIV was the focus of several presentations at ASM Microbe 2016. The use of these regimens among older patients and individuals with renal impairment was highlighted, as well as the ways in which the Strategic Timing of Antiretroviral Treatment trial has impacted initiation of therapy for all patients with HIV.

At ASM Microbe 2016, several presentations highlighted the efficacy of pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, for reducing HIV acquisition. These studies add to a growing body of literature that supports PrEP use among individuals at high risk for HIV. However, the individuals who stand to derive the greatest benefit from PrEP are also the ones with the lowest uptake.

There are several mechanisms that contribute to HIV persistence, all of which may influence the ability to develop a cure, according to Jonathan Z. Li, MD, MMSc, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital and member of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

In this video, Daniel Kuritzkes, MD, principal investigator of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group and chief of infectious diseases at Brigham and Women's Hospital and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, reviews the different areas covered in the session on HIV cure at ASM Microbe 2016.

In this guest commentary, Michael Saag, MD, director of the Center for AIDS Research, University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Co-Editor in Chief of HCV Next, discusses the treatment of HIV/hepatitis C virus coinfection following the advent of direct-acting antivirals.

In this commentary, Infectious Disease News Editorial Board member Thomas M. File Jr., MD, professor of internal medicine at Northeast Ohio Medical University, discusses presentations at ASM Microbe 2016 on gram-negative bacterial infections, as well as recently approved therapies and agents currently in the pipeline that have been developed to treat them.

Pitavastatin resulted in greater reductions of markers of arterial inflammation and immune activation compared with pravastatin among patients with HIV and dyslipidemia, according to study results presented at ASM Microbe 2016.

Cellulose acetate phthalate nanoparticles formulated with dolutegravir appear to be an effective vaginal microbicide for use as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, according to study results presented at ASM Microbe 2016.