16th International Conference on AIDS in 2006

enormous progress (in the understanding & treatment options)

- 1981 (25 years before 2006 when the video commentary was recorded)
- MMWR (= Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report of the CDC, Centers for Disease Control)

- around 1996
- highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART)
- transformed HIV infection into a chronic, manageable condition in the rich countries in which these drugs are widely available
- but no change for Africa (> 20 million HIV-infected individuals will die unless they obtain access to these lifesaving medications)

- scientific advances that provide hope for the future
- 2 new classes of antiretroviral drugs (viral integrase inhibitors & entry inhibitors) ← excellent activity against all strains of HIV, including those that are resistant to all currently approved drugs
- integrase inhibitor → viral loads plummeted more sharply than has been seen with any antiretroviral drug studied to date
- entry inhibitors act by antagonizing cellular proteins; target a cellular component, rather than the virus directly → hope that resistance to these drugs will not easily develop

development of rapid saliva-based diagnostic assays to detect HIV infection

At present, the turnaround time for an antibody test is 3 weeks, and many people do not return to the clinic to obtain results

- Patients will receive antibody results while waiting in a doctor's office → no tortuous 3-week waiting period of older tests
- May also lead to a public health benefit

- good news in regard to both HIV therapeutics and diagnostics
- hope that political action will help ensure that these advances become available to people throughout the world

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