The following are treatment updates from the 13th International AIDS Conference in July. Authors Erica Didier and Brian Coppedge followed the conference through daily webcasts and conference reports posted on the Internet. Many of the presentations, including all of the plenary lectures, and the opening ceremonies including South African President Mbeki's controversial opening speech, can be listened to and viewed at www.webcast.aids2000.com. Also, extensive daily conference updates have been posted on the following Web sites, www.thebody.com, and www.medscape.com. All of the above sites are free, but you must register to view the material on Medscape's site.

** In addition to the brief summaries here, STEP will be hosting a community forum on August 17, 2000 at 7 p.m. at Volney Auditorium at Virginia Mason Medical Center. At this community meeting Jeff Schouten, M.D. will provide more in-depth coverage of treatment news, and conference delegates Judith Billings and Janice Price, R.N., M.Ed., will discuss the epidemiologic and prevention information presented at the conference. The next issue of the STEP Perspective, due out in early September, will also include more information from the Durban conference. **

Contents:

• How Important Are Elevated Lactate Levels?
• Follow-up Data From Studies of Intermittent Therapy and Treatment Interruption
• Can Resistant Viruses Be Transmitted?
• AZT and d4T Cross-resistance
• Using Resistance Data to Make Treatment Decisions
• Mother-to-child Transmission
• Breastfeeding and the Risk of Transmission

Special thanks to the following for contributing written material to this publication:

• STEP Publications Advisory Committee
• Brian Coppedge
• Erica Didier

We also appreciate the financial support for this and other STEP programs from:

• The Washington State Department of Health
• DuPont Pharma
• Abbott Laboratories
• Agouron Pharmaceuticals

STEP reviews a wide spectrum of HIV treatment options but does not endorse any particular treatment, product, company, or individual. Participation in the preparation of the materials included in the Ezine does not imply endorsement by any of the individuals who have contributed to its production.

STEP Ezine is a publication of the Seattle Treatment Education Project copyright 2000. Permission required for republishing articles (and gladly given in most circumstances).