HIV Treatment Bulletin - Vol. 5, No. 7, August/September 2004

This double issue of HTB features reports and research presented at the XV International AIDS Conference held in Bangkok in July.

There is always far more to report at every meeting that we can cover in this journal and we also include links to other sites, including those with webcasts of some of the sessions.

The social and political momentum to provide treatment for people in countries with only limited access to antiretroviral drugs is covered comprehensively by Graham McKerrow in the first article.

The conference also saw the issue of access to treatment for IV drug users achieve a much higher profile and we include an overview of these issues by Mauro Guanieri. We also include a transcript of the speech given by Paisan Suwannawong, who spoke movingly and passionately at both the opening and closing ceremonies, about the reality of HIV-positive drug users in Thailand, often with information that was in contrast to the official position given by Thailands Prime Minister at the same ceremony.

There was criticism that many of the scientific sessions presented results and conclusions based on only interim data and early results on small numbers of patients and early presentations risk skewing results of both these and subsequent studies.

We support seeing the early data from James McIntyre and colleagues however, showing the dramatic protection from resistance given to pregnant women who add Combivir for only 4 or 7 days to a single dose nevirapine on the onset of labour. These results are likely to quickly change the global recommendations for the healthcare of pregnant women in resource poor settings.

Additional reports from the meeting will also be included in the next issue of HTB, which will be a double issue for October/ November.

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