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Welcome
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Dear Reader,
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I am delighted to present Stichting HIV Monitoring’s second eNewsletter. This eNewsletter has an international focus and will be distributed to coincide with NCHIV 2011, the Netherlands Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Prevention and Treatment. In this issue we feature two interviews with internationally renowned HIV researchers – Peter Reiss from the Academic Medical Center at the University of Amsterdam and Steven Deeks from the University of California, San Francisco and San Francisco General Hospital. Furthermore, Robert Kauffman, an internist with many years of experience in treating HIV infections and founder of the NVAB (Dutch Association of Physicians in AIDS), has written a column about the challenges of managing the treatment of HIV-infected patients.
I trust that you will enjoy reading this newsletter. If you have feedback or input for upcoming issues please contact us.
Kind regards,
Frank de Wolf
Director, Stichting HIV Monitoring
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In Search of a Cure for HIV - A Short Interview with Dr. Steven Deeks
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Dr. Steven Deeks is a highly respected clinician and scientist whose work encompasses both clinical care and research into the pathogenesis and treatment of HIV infection. He is a Professor of Medicine in Residence at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and a faculty member in the Positive Health Program (AIDS Program) at San Francisco General Hospital. Dr. Deeks is visiting Amsterdam for the NCHIV 2011 conference on 29 November 2011. During the conference, Dr. Deeks will be speaking on “Prospects for HIV eradication”. He kindly agreed to speak to us about his work at UCSF and San Francisco General Hospital, his study on the possibility of a cure for HIV, and his involvement with various cohort studies. Read more
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The DAD Study and HIV Therapy - An Interview with Professor Peter Reiss
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Professor Peter Reiss, MD, PhD works jointly for the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases and the Department of Global Health, both situated at the Academic Medical Center (AMC) at the University of Amsterdam. His focus is particularly related to the complications of HIV treatment, with the majority of his time dedicated to various clinical studies related to this topic as well as consulting at the AMC’s HIV clinic and teaching medical students. Dr. Reiss also serves on many international committees and study groups. Amongst his many roles, Dr. Reiss currently serves on the HIV Monitoring Working Group of Stichting HIV Monitoring (SHM) and acts as Principal Investigator for SHM in the DAD study (Data collection of Adverse events of Anti-HIV Drugs). We were fortunate to catch up with Dr. Reiss to discuss the DAD study further. Read more
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Guest Column: Dr. Robert Kauffmann - New Challenges for HIV Practitioners
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HIV infection has become a chronic, treatable disease but that doesn’t mean that the HIV-treating specialist can sit back and relax. On the contrary, the need for care of patients with HIV-infection has increased significantly because despite adequate antiviral therapy, HIV patients suffer illnesses that are not directly caused by HIV and are often associated with old age. Because HIV-infected patients show signs of premature ageing, they are more prone to develop these diseases. Read more
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Progress in HIV Care and Monitoring in Curaçao
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| Gonneke Hermanides has been based in Curaçao the last few years and has recently returned to the Netherlands to complete her PhD thesis. In the following article she shares with us some insights into her work in Curaçao, particularly in relation to the effect of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) in the adult population. Read more |
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| Event Review - IAS, Rome, Italy |
From 17 to 20 July 2011 the 6th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention took place in Rome. Important news at this conference was the irrefutable evidence from the HPTN 052 trial that antiretroviral treatment can effectively prevent HIV infections. Read more
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| Publication Review |
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A selection of research including SHM data that was published during Q3, 2011:
Rising HIV-1 viral load set-point at a population level coincides with a fading impact of host genetic factors on HIV-1 control
Some mutations in the human genome lead to a decrease in viral load at set-point compared to HIV-infected individuals without these mutations. However, since 1996 the HIV-1 viral load set-point level has increased. This increase coincides with a fading impact of these mutations. Read the abstract
The development of an expert system to predict virological response to HIV therapy as part of an on-line treatment support tool
Choosing the right antiretroviral therapy combination can be quite a challenge. In order to support treating physicians with their decision-making, the RDI Study Group developed a method to predict the virological response to different therapy combinations. This method is superior to three other frequently used methods. Read the abstract
The Coding Causes of Death in HIV (CoDe) Project: initial results and evaluation of methodology
Studies into causes of death in HIV-infected patients are usually performed within large international collaborations. One persistent complicating factor in this was the lack of an unequivocal classification of causes of death. But now the Coding Causes of Death in HIV Project (CoDe) has developed a standardised method. Read the abstract
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Facts and figures
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SHM collaborates with at least 13 research groups and observational cohorts in Europe, the United States and Canada.
Since 2006, SHM has presented more than 180 times at national and international conferences (posters and oral presentations).
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© Stichting HIV Monitoring, 2011
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