opportunistic infections

The Southern African HIV Clinicians Society’s biannual conference, held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 24-27 October 2018, focused on clinical content for HIV and TB health care workers in the region and featured a wide range of topics, from new antiretroviral drugs, AIDS-related complications, and opportunistic infections, to promoting adherence and ethical issues.

The Southern African HIV Clinicians Society’s biannual conference focuses on clinical content for HIV and TB health care workers. The 2018 conference programme has been carefully designed to benefit all health care practitioners, with topics ranging from new antiretroviral drugs, AIDS-related complications, opportunistic infections, promoting adherence and ethical issues.

Fungi are major contributors to the opportunistic infections that affect patients with HIV/AIDS. Systemic infections are mainly with Pneumocystis jirovecii (pneumocystosis), Cryptococcus neoformans (cryptococcosis), Histoplasma capsulatum (histoplasmosis), and Talaromyces (Penicillium) marneffei (talaromycosis). The incidence of systemic fungal infections has decreased in people with HIV in high-income countries because of the widespread availability of antiretroviral drugs and early testing for HIV.

Chronic immune activation due to ongoing HIV replication may lead to impaired immune responses against opportunistic infections such as tuberculosis (TB). We studied the role of HIV replication as a risk factor for incident TB after starting antiretroviral therapy (ART).

The key objective of the annual Bangkok International Symposium on HIV Medicine is to provide health care workers and members of the HIV-infected and affected community from Thailand and all over the world with a comprehensive review of the management of HIV infection and opportunistic infections, efforts to improve access to therapy as well as the latest updates on research into HIV treatments and vaccines. The symposium also aims to stimulate debate through a series of panel discussions on issues such as access to care and the cost of ARV in developing countries.

Background. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the incidence and prevalence of 14 opportunistic infections (OIs) and other infections as well as the impact of antiretroviral therapy (ART) among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–infected children (aged

The HIV virus infects and destroys CD4 positive (CD4+) cells, a type of immune cell that plays a key role in maintaining the human immune system and fighting off disease.

Also called T-helper cells, CD4+ cells are responsible for instructing other cells of the immune system to perform their specific functions. At the time of infection with HIV, the higher the number of CD4+ cells that become damaged, the weaker the immune system becomes and the less able a person is to fight off infection and disease. Eventually, this results in the development of AIDS.

Charles van der Horst is professor of medicine at the UNC School of Medicine. Dr. van der Horst has been conducting clinical trials in the treatment and prevention of HIV, opportunistic infections (CMV, PCP, MAC, Cryptococcus, adenovirus), EBV and influenza since 1982. Since 2001 he has also worked in Malawi and South Africa with a focus on prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV, treatment of cryptococcal meningitis and operations research on better methods to prevent and treat HIV in the resource constrained setting.