IAS 2013 conference programme live online - announcing keynote speakers, participating scientists and abstracts
Dr Steve Deeks, HIV cure specialist, keynote speaker at opening session
Wednesday, 8 May 2013 (Geneva, Switzerland) - Strategies for pursuing an HIV cure, the impact of starting
antiretroviral therapy at higher CD4 counts and innovative models for HIV testing and care feature heavily in the IAS 2013 programme announced today.
"Functional cures" and the benefits of early antiretroviral therapeutic treatment have attracted international headlines this year and the IAS 20I3 conference, the world´s
leading open HIV scientific forum, will provide researchers with an opportunity to both take stock of the year´s developments and
consider new ground-breaking studies, confirming that a revolution in HIV science is gathering momentum.
Steve Deeks will open the conference on Sunday evening together with eminent speakers from the Malaysian government.
Deeks will outline his latest work looking at HIV as an inflammatory disease, describing how inflammation affects health during
antiretroviral treatment and how this process might affect cure studies.
Deborah Persaud, lead researcher on the "Mississippi Baby" study will participate in a pediatric symposium and will
emphasize on the potential for curing newborn children with HIV infection by following the strategy used with this baby -
providing standard antiretroviral therapy within the first days of life while HIV infection is still being confirmed.
The case suggests that very early treatment may prevent establishment of latent HIV infection, which is an obstacle
to curing people with chronic HIV infection.
Laurent Hocqueloux, one of the doctors entrusted with the care of the so called VISCONTI Cohort of 14 patients (Sáez-Cirión A,
et al. PLoS Pathogens. 2013; 9:e1003211), will present another study of 283 people starting antiretroviral therapy (ART) during
chronic infection at various CD4 count levels.
Treatment as Prevention - Impact of starting antiretroviral therapy at higher CD4 counts
Two years ago the IAS 2011 conference made headlines with researchers announcing that the HPTN 052 trial determined that starting early
antiretroviral therapy (ART), regardless of CD4 count, rather than waiting for the CD4 count to fall to 250 lowered the risk of HIV
transmission in HIV-discordant couples by 96% (Cohen MJ, et al. N Engl J Med.2011; 365:493-505).Treatment as Prevention (TasP) was
formally born. Over the past two years there has been considerable research undertaken on the benefits of early antiretroviral
therapeutic treatment in addition to the implementation aspects of TasP. Key studies to be presented in the field include:
The epidemiological impact and cost-effectiveness of expanded eligibility for and access to adult antiretroviral therapy in South Africa,
Zambia, India, and Vietnam: a twelve model analysis (J.W. Eaton; July1)
Early antiretroviral therapy, sexual behaviors and HIV-1 transmission risk: estimates from the Temprano-ANRS 12136 Randomized Controlled
Trial (Abidjan, Côte d´Ivoire) (K. Jean; July1)
HIV cure strategies
Presentation to be delivered by Deborah Persaud (July 3)
Impact of 12 months HAART on cell-associated HIV-DNA in acute primary HIV-1 infection in the OPTIPRIM-ANRS 147 trial (A. Chéret; July 3)
In chronically HIV-1-infected patients long-term antiretroviral therapy initiated above 500 CD4/mm3 achieves better HIV-1 reservoirs' depletion and T cell count restoration (L.Hocqueloux; July 3)
Innovative models for HIV care
Effects of antenatal care-HIV service integration on utilization of prevention of mother-to-child transmission services, and mother-to-child HIV transmission: results from a cluster-randomized controlled trial in Kenya (C.R. Cohen, July 1)
Home visits during antenatal care enhances male partner HIV-1 counseling and testing during pregnancy in Kenya: a randomized controlled trial (A. Osoti; July 2)
Outcomes of national expansion program for antiretroviral treatment to rural health centre level through mobile HIV services in Zambia (A. Mwango; July 2)
Community antiretroviral therapy (ART) delivery models for high patient's retention and sustaining good adherence: The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO) operational research findings, CDC/PEPFAR funded project in Uganda (D. Mpiima; July 2).
Innovative models for HIV testing
Client-centered HIV testing and counseling as a strategy for scaling up access to HIV prevention and care services (F. Odhiambo; July1)
Home visits during antenatal care enhances male partner HIV-1 counseling and testing during pregnancy in Kenya: a randomized controlled trial (A. Osoti; July 2)
Use of modest financial incentives to improve engagement of drug users in HIV testing and follow-up: results of a randomized controlled trial (M. Hull; July 2)
The IAS 2013 Programme is now available online at www.ias2013.org . Late breaker
abstracts will be announced mid-May and will be added to the online programme accordingly. Delegate registration is open online until 24
June, thereafter registration is only possible onsite from 29 June. For more information go to www.ias2013.org/registration.aspx
END
Register for IAS 2013
Media representatives are strongly encouraged to register online in order to avoid long queuing at the onsite registration counters.
For more information please click here
For further information on registration for regular delegates please click here
About the IAS 2013 organizers
The International AIDS Society (IAS) is the world's leading independent association of HIV professionals, with over
16,000 members from more than 196 countries working at all levels of the global response to AIDS. The IAS members include researchers
from all disciplines, clinicians, public health and community practitioners on the frontlines of the epidemic, as well as policy
and programme planners.
The IAS is lead organizer of the IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention, which will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 30 June - 3 July 2013 and custodian of the biennial International AIDS Conference, which will be held in Melbourne, Australia, 20-25 July 2014.
The Centre of Excellence for Research in AIDS (CERiA) was established in 2007 to respond to the need to better understand the Malaysian HIV epidemic and to build local capacity in conducting HIV related research. Since its establishment it has become the leading Centre in Malaysia conducting HIV related research in various fields including epidemiology, social behavioural, clinical and laboratory based research.
IAS 2013: Join the conversation
Get the latest conference updates and share your thoughts and ideas through the Conference Facebook and Twitter. We are tweeting - @_IAS2013 - and hope many of you will tweet along with us, using #IAS2013 to keep the conversation going. Become a fan of IAS 2013 on Facebook and stay in touch with the latest conference updates and developments. Please visit www.facebook.com/conferenceIAS2013 to become a fan. If your group or organization is participating in IAS 2013, we welcome posts of photos and videos of your work on this page. Tell us why you are coming to Kuala Lumpur and what you hope to gain from IAS 2013.
Further information
Siân Bowen (Geneva, Switzerland), Senior Manager, Communications
Email: Sian.Bowen@iasociety.org
Tel: +41 22 710 0864
Francesca Da Ros (Geneva, Switzerland), Communications and Media Officer
Email: Francesca.Daros@iasociety.org
Tel: +41 22 710 0822
Zaki Arzmi (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), IAS 2013 Local Communications Coordinator
Email: zaki@mac.org.my
Tel: +6 016 292 2948
"Reproduced with permission - International AIDS Society"
International AIDS Society
For more HIV and AIDS News visit...
Positively Positive - Living with HIV/AIDS:
HIV/AIDS News
|