The 5th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections is sponsored by the Foundation for Retrovirology and Human Health in scientific collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The Retrovirus Conference is a research meeting created to provide a forum for basic and clinical science investigators to present, discuss, and critique developments in the field of human retrovirology and related opportunistic complications. The retroviral subjects that will be highlighted are: biology and virology, pathogenesis, host-virus interactions, pathology, immunology, epidemiology, diagnostics, prevention, therapy, pharmacology, and vaccines. In addition, new studies concerning the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of HIV-associated opportunistic infections and malignancies will be included.

Following are selected conference summaries reported exclusively for The Body by Kent Sepkowitz, M.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Cornell University Medical College, New York, and Assistant Physician and Associate Chairman Clinical Affairs, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York.

The Seattle Treatment Education Project (STEP), publisher of the treatment newsletter STEP Perspective, is providing additional conference summaries. STEP reporters include: Jeff Schouten, M.D., Chairman, Scientific Review Committee, STEP; Brian Coppedge, Treatment Information Specialist, STEP; Donna Rochon, Editor, RITA!; and Paul Simmons, RN, The Center for AIDS, Houston, TX.

Funding for this conference coverage at The Body is provided, in part, through an unrestricted educational grant by Bristol-Myers Squibb Immunology.

Conference Summaries

Opening Session Highlights
Covered by the Seattle Treatment Education Project (STEP)

Monday, February 2, 1998

• Session 3: Monitoring the Epidemic of HIV/AIDS in the United States (State-of-the-Art Lecture)
  Presenter -- Kevin Decock, CDC
  Covered by the Seattle Treatment Education Project (STEP)
• Session 5: Antiretroviral Chemotherapy I
  Summaries by Kent Sepkowitz, M.D.
  • "Role of d4T in initial combination regimens"
  • "Should AZT and d4T be used together?"
  • "Antiretroviral Effects of Therapy Combining Abacavir with HIV Protease Inhibitors"
• Session 5: Antiretroviral Chemotherapy I
  Covered by the Seattle Treatment Education Project (STEP)
• Session 7: Immunopathogenesis of HIV-1 Infection
  Covered by the Seattle Treatment Education Project (STEP)
• Session 8: AIDS Malignancies
  Covered by the Seattle Treatment Education Project (STEP)
• Session 9: Chemokine Receptors and HIV/SIV
  Covered by the Seattle Treatment Education Project (STEP)
• Session 28: Epidemiology: Effects of HIV-1 Therapy on the Cost of Care and Hospitalization: Abstracts 199-202, 204
  Summary by Kent Sepkowitz, M.D.
• Session 29, Abstract 207: Quantitative HIV-1 RNA and Other Factors Associated with Survival in the Women's Interagency HIV Study
  Covered by the Seattle Treatment Education Project
• The Impact of HAART on Rates and Types of Hospitalizations: Abstracts 179-184, 198, 205-206, 257
  Summaries by Kent Sepkowitz, M.D.
• Three Poster Presentations
  Covered by the Seattle Treatment Education Project (STEP)
  1. Poster 217: Supplemental Multivitamins of Vitamin B Complex Significantly Delay Progression to AIDS and Death in South African Patients Infected with HIV
     Presented by Andrew Kanter et al, WITS Medical School, Johannesburg, South Africa
  2. Poster 148: Maintaining Protease Inhibitor Therapy Setting
     Presented by Pamela Bozek et al, University of Maryland, Baltimore
  3. Poster 208: HIV-1 Viral Burden Predicts Survival among Severely Immunosuppressed HIV-1-Infected Men
     Presented by LP Jacobson et al, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore

Tuesday, February 3, 1998

• Session 35: HIV Infection: The Body Fights Back (State-of-the-Art Lecture)
  Presenter -- Bruce D. Walker, Massachusetts Gen. Hosp.
  Covered by the Seattle Treatment Education Project (STEP)
• Session 42: Neurological Aspects of HIV Disease
  Covered by the Seattle Treatment Education Project (STEP)
  1. S20: The Molecular Pathogenesis of Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy
  2. S22: HIV-1 Viral Load in the CSF and Brain
• Session 47, Abstract 326: Ultra Sensitive Detection of Plasma HIV-1 RNA for Predicting the Durability of 3-Drug Antiretroviral Therapy
  Covered by the Seattle Treatment Education Project
• Session 49, Abstract 356: Indinavir Pharmacokinetics and Menstrual Cycle Physiology
  Covered by the Seattle Treatment Education Project
• Session 50: Combination Antiretroviral Chemotherapy: Nucleoside Analogs and Protease Inhibitors, Abstracts 387a and 373
  Covered by the Seattle Treatment Education Project
• Session 50, Abstract 374: Thirty-Two Week Follow-Up of Indinavir Sulfate Administered Q8 Hours versus Q12 in Combination with Zidovudine and Lamivudine
  Covered by the Seattle Treatment Education Project
• Sessions 50 and 51: Advances made towards simpler protease inhibitor regimens (Poster session abstracts 374 and 393)
  Summaries by Kent Sepkowitz, M.D.
• Session 50, Abstract 377: d4T+3TC versus AZT+3TC
  Summary by Kent Sepkowitz, M.D.
• Session 50, Abstract 378: Antiviral Activity and Acceptance of Two Different Triple Combinations: d4T + Indinavir + 3TC Vs d4T + Indinavir + ddI
  Summary by Kent Sepkowitz, M.D.
• Session 50, Abstract 379: Combination Therapy with AZT + 3TC + Indinavir vs. d4T + 3TC + Indinavir in Pretreated Patients with Less than 200 CD4/mm³
  Summary by Kent Sepkowitz, M.D.
• Session 50, Abstracts 380 and 381: The START Trials
  Summaries by Kent Sepkowitz, M.D.
• Session 50, Abstract 387: Can Nelfinavir Substitute for Other Protease Inhibitors in Persons with Plasma HIV-1 RNA Below 500 copies/ml Before the Substitution?
  Covered by the Seattle Treatment Education Project
• Session 53: Antiretroviral Therapy: Unique Adverse Effects of Protease Inhibitors: Abstracts 407 - 416
  Summaries by Kent Sepkowitz, M.D.
• Session 54: Antiretroviral Therapy: Salvage Regimens: Abstracts 419 - 428
  Summaries by Kent Sepkowitz, M.D.
• Session 54, Abstract 426: Salvage Therapy Using Six Drugs in Heavily Pretreated Patients
  Covered by the Seattle Treatment Education Project

Wednesday, February 4, 1998

• Session 84, Abstract 661: A Randomized Double-Blind Study of d4T + ddI versus ZDV + ddI as Initial Treatment in Subjects with CD4 Count <= 500 CELLS/MM3
  Summary by Kent Sepkowitz, M.D.
• Session 84, Abstract 664: Therapy with d4T plus 3TC Produces Sustained Undetectable Levels of Plasma HIV RNA in Patients Treated with Reverse Transcriptase (RT) Inhibitors for 10 Years
  Summary by Kent Sepkowitz, M.D.
• Session 85, Abstract 678: Emergence of HIV-1 Resistance in Seminal Plasma of Men on Antiretroviral Therapy
  Summary by Kent Sepkowitz, M.D.
• Session 86, Abstract 692: Efavirenz + Indinavir
  Summary by Kent Sepkowitz, M.D.
• Session 88: HIV-1 Replication in the Female Genital Tract
  Covered by the Seattle Treatment Education Project
• Session 89, Abstract 722: A Study in HIV Positive Women of Quadruple Therapy: Nelfinavir, Saquinavir, Stavudine, and Lamivudine
  Covered by the Seattle Treatment Education Project

Conference-Related Articles

• New Insights into HIV-Related Complications (March, 1998)
  Highlights of the 5th Retrovirus Conference
  By Judith Currier, M.D., and Diane V. Havlir, M.D.
• Retroviruses Conference Notes (February 20, 1998)
  From AIDS Treatment News
• Retroviruses Conference: For More Information (February 20, 1998)
  From AIDS Treatment News
• 5th Retroviruses Conference in Chicago (February 6, 1998)
  From AIDS Treatment News
• Fauci: New Findings Help Explain "Rebound" of HIV in Patients Who Discontinue Triple-Drug Therapy (February 2, 1998)
  From the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
• Update on Fungal Infections (February, 1998)
  By Judith Currier, M.D., M.Sc.