The Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC), an annual meeting of American Society for Microbiology, is the major international meeting on antimicrobial agents and infectious diseases. ICAAC programs encourage the exchange of new information among healthcare professionals, particularly physicians, researchers, microbiologists, pharmacists and others specializing in infectious diseases.

In addition to its scientific symposia, the conference includes special lectures, slide sessions, poster presentations, minilectures, meet-the-experts roundtables, interactive sessions and will this year include an opening session on AIDS. Complementing the invited sessions are an increased number of abstract sessions, which allow for the presentation of new and significant developments in therapy, prevention, pathogenesis, epidemiology, immunology and diagnosis of both established and emerging infectious diseases.

This is the Centennial of American Society for Microbiology, the oldest and largest single life science membership organization in the world. The Society represents 24 disciplines of microbiological specialization plus a division for microbiology educators.

The following selected conference summaries are reported exclusively for The Body by:

• Cal Cohen, MD, research director of the Community Research Initiative of New England and teacher at Harvard Medical School. He is also an HIV clinical management consultant and internist at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Boston, MA.

• Mark Holodniy, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at Stanford University, Stanford, CA. He is Director of the HIV Clinical Program and AIDS Research Center at Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Palo Alto.

• Rick Stryker, MD, MPH, a principal investigator for clinical trials at Pacific Oaks Research. He is a Clinical Instructor at the UCLA School of Medicine, and practices medicine with the Pacific Medical Group in Beverly Hills, California.

• Howard Grossman, MD, a widely known specialist in HIV medicine. He is an Assistant Attending Physician at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in Manhattan, and is an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

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

Conference Summaries:

Sunday, September 26, 1999

• Satellite Symposium: Managing HIV Disease for Life -- New Issues Challenges, and Opportunities
  Coverage provided by Calvin Cohen, MD
  • New Strategies in the Treatment of HIV Disease
  • The Science of Resistance Comes of Age
  • Update on Lipodystrophy and Metabolic Disorders in HIV Infection
  • Hydroxyurea and Its Role in HIV Disease
  • Improving Existing Drugs and Designing Better Compounds

• Poster Session 9.H: Virus-HIV Coinfections
  Coverage provided by Howard Grossman, MD
  • Paper No. 104: Efficacy of Combination Therapy with Interferon-Alpha 2b and Ribavirin for Chronic Hepatitis C in HIV-Infected Patients
    and
    
  • Paper No. 105: Interferon (IFN) and Ribavirin (RBV) Therapy for Hepatitis C (HCV) in HIV-Coinfected Patients

• Poster Session 35.I: Antiretroviral Resistance and Resistance Testing
  Coverage by Mark Holodniy, MD

Monday, September 27, 1999

• Slide Session 66.A: Drug Interactions in HIV Therapy
  • Paper No. 657: Pharmacokinetic (PK) Interaction between the HIV Protease Inhibitors Tipranavir and Ritonavir
    Coverage provided by Howard Grossman, MD
  • Paper No. 659: Pharmakokinetic (PK) Interactions between the HIV Protease Inhibitors Ritonavir (RTV) and Saquinavir (SQV) and VIAGRA® (Sildenafil Citrate)
    Coverage provided by Howard Grossman, MD
  • Paper No. 660: Grapefruit Juice Increases Gastric pH, but Does Not Affect Indinavir (IDV) Exposure, in HIV Patients
    Coverage provided by Howard Grossman, MD

• Slide Session 69.I: Preservation and Enhancement of Immune System Responses in HIV Disease
  • Paper No. 689: The NoHRT Trial: a Prospective Study of Cessation of HAART in HIV-Infected Patients after Prolonged Viral Suppression
    Coverage provided by Rick Stryker, MD, MPH
  • Paper No. 690: The In Vitro Synergy of Abacavir and Mycophenolic Acid Suggests a Novel Approach to HIV Therapy
    Coverage provided by Rick Stryker, MD, MPH
  • Paper No. 693: Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study of Leukine (Gm-Csf) in Advanced HIV Disease: Significant Improvements in Overall Infections, Cd4 Cell Counts, and the Duration of Viral Suppression
    Coverage provided by Howard Grossman, MD

• Poster Session 89-F: Novel Antiretroviral Agents
  • Paper No. 916: Discovery of VX-175/GW433908, a Novel, Water-Soluble Prodrug of Amprenavir
    Coverage provided by Rick Stryker, MD, MPH
  • Paper No. 924: DAPD: a Novel Nucleoside Inhibitor of HIV-1 Replication Is Active Against Drug-Resistant Isolates of HIV-1 from Patients Failing Standard Nucleoside Therapy
    Coverage provided by Rick Stryker, MD, MPH
  • Paper No. 925: A Highly Potent NNRTI Possessing Potential Dual Activity Against HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase I and Chemokine Receptor Interactions
    Coverage provided by Rick Stryker, MD, MPH
  • Paper No. 926: Therapeutic Potential of a New Nonnucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor of HIV-1 with Activity Against HIV-2
    Coverage provided by Rick Stryker, MD, MPH

• Session 93.I: Late-Breaker Slide Session II
  • Paper No. LB-15: Evaluation of Lymph Node Viral Burden in HIV-Infected Individuals Receiving an Efavirenz-Based Protease Inhibitor-Sparing HAART Regimen
    Coverage provided by Howard Grossman, MD
  • Paper No. LB-16: Virologic and Immunologic Profiles of Newly Infected Individual Electing Discontinuation of HAART After Approximately Three Years of Apparently Suppressive Therapy
    Coverage provided by Howard Grossman, MD
  • Paper No. LB-18: Sixteen Week Analyses of Heavily Pre-Treated Patients Receiving T-20 as a Component of Multi-Drug Salvage Therapy
    Coverage provided by Calvin Cohen, MD
  • Paper No. LB-19: A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study of Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate (TDF) for the Treatment of HIV Infection
    Coverage provided by Howard Grossman, MD
  • Paper No. LB-20: ABT 378/Ritonavir Suppresses HIV RNA to Less Than 400 Copies in 95% of Treatment Naïve Patients and in 78% of PI-Experienced Patients at 36 Weeks
    Coverage provided by Calvin Cohen, MD
  • Paper No. LB-21: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Multicenter Study of Remmune in Subjects With 300-550 CD4 Cells and Unrestricted Antiretroviral Treatments
    Coverage provided by Howard Grossman, MD
  • Paper No. LB-22: The Atlantic Study: A Randomized, Open-Label Trial Comparing Two Protease Inhibitor (PI)-Sparing Antiretroviral Strategies Versus A Standard PI-Containing Regimen, 48 Week Data
    Coverage provided by Howard Grossman, MD
  • Paper No. LB-23: A Randomized Placebo Controlled Trial of Azithromycin Prophylaxis for the Prevention of MAC Complex in Subjects with Increases in CD4 Cells on Antiretroviral Therapy
    Coverage provided by Calvin Cohen, MD
  • Paper No. LB-24: Discontinuation of PCP Prophylaxis Is Safe in HIV-Infected Patients After Immunological Recovery with HAART
    Coverage provided by Calvin Cohen, MD

• Poster Session 127.I: Toxicity of Antiretroviral Therapy
  • Paper No. 1306: Switch to AZT + 3TC Improves Lipodystrophy Signs in the Presence of PIs
    Coverage provided by Calvin Cohen, MD

Tuesday, September 28, 1999

• Poster Session 192.I: Clinical Trials of Antiretroviral Therapy
  Coverage provided by Mark Holodniy, M.D.
  • Paper No. 1973: Comparison of a Triple Regimen Containing Once-Daily Didanosine vs a Regimen of ZDV/3TC/NLF
  • Paper No. 1975: Multicenter, Randomized Phase II Trial of Multiple Doses of Lodenosine in Combination with Stavudine and Indinavir in Antiretroviral-Naïve HIV-Infected Adults
  • Paper No. 1982: Efficacy of Efavirenz in Combination with Stavudine (d4T) and Didanosine (ddI) in Antiretroviral Therapy-Naïve HIV-Infected Patients (Study 044)

Wednesday, September 29, 1999

• Slide Session 202.I: Antiretroviral Therapy in Clinical Practice
  Coverage provided by Mark Holodniy, M.D.
  • Paper No. 2064: Management of Protease Inhibitor (PI)-Associated Lipodystrophy by Substitution with Efavirenz (EFV) in Virologically Controlled HIV-Infected Persons
  • Paper No. 2065: The Efficacy of Ritonavir (RTV)/Saquinavir (SQV) Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) in Patients Who Failed Nelfinavir (NFV): A Multi-Center Clinical Cohort Study
  • Paper No. 2066: Virological and Clinical Response to Second Line Protease Inhibitor-Containing Regimens
  • Paper No. 2067: Multi-Drug Rescue Therapy (MDRT) for HIV-Infected Individuals with Prior Virological Failure to Multiple Regimens -- Results from Two Cohorts
  • Paper No. 2068: Phenotypic Resistance to Protease Inhibitors Predicts Outcome of a Five Drug Combination Including Ritonavir, Saquinavir and Efavirenz in Patients Who Failed on HAART
  • Paper No. 2069: Serum Protease Inhibitor Level as a Marker of Adherence to HAART: Correlation with Self-Reported Adherence and with HIV RNA