More Highlights from the IAS Conference on HIV Science

The International AIDS Society Conference on HIV ScienceExit Disclaimer (IAS 2017) continued in Paris today, and Dr. Carl Dieffenbach shared some of the conference’s research highlights on a Facebook Live event. Dr. Dieffenbach is the Director of the Division of AIDS at NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). He spoke with our special correspondent and his colleague Anne Rancourt, NIAID’s Communications Section Chief. View their conversation below or on the HIV.gov Facebook pageExit Disclaimer.

Among the research highlights they discussed was a report of a South African child with HIV who received treatment during infancy and who has suppressed the virus without anti-HIV drugs for eight and a half years. As Dr. Dieffenbach and Ms. Rancourt explained, studying this child’s sustained viral remission may help us better understand how the immune system controls HIV replication and possible approaches to facilitating remission. HIV vaccine research was also in the spotlight at the conference. Carl spoke about the ongoing NIH-supported HVTN 702 trial underway in South Africa as well as results presented at the conference from an early-stage NIH-funded trial of an experimental HIV vaccine regimen. Dr. Dieffenbach also highlighted an NIH-supported study that explored concerns among transgender women about interactions between HIV treatment and hormone therapy that may negatively affect their treatment adherence. “We need a new dialogue, new set of approaches, and new information to help this population receive optimal treatment for both HIV and hormone therapy,” he remarked. Finally, he fielded a question about treatment as prevention from a viewer of yesterday’s Facebook Live session with NIH’s Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Tomorrow, Dr. Dieffenbach and Ms. Rancourt will return to share final highlights of new HIV research from the conference. Be sure to tune in to the HIV.gov Facebook pageExit Disclaimer at 1:00 PM (ET) to catch their update.

IAS 2017 is the largest open scientific conference on HIV and AIDS related issues—bringing together a broad cross-section of more than 6,000 professionals from around the world to meet and examine the latest scientific developments in HIV-related research with a focus on moving science into practice and policy. The conference is organized by the International AIDS SocietyExit Disclaimer (IAS) in partnership with ANRSExit Disclaimer (the French national agency for research on AIDS and viral hepatitis). For more information on the conference, visit www.ias2017.orgExit Disclaimer.