Research from an 18-year Spanish cohort presented to the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2025) in San Francisco last week showed a significant reduction in severe non-AIDS events – such as heart attacks and non-AIDS cancers – over time. Other outcomes, such as hypertension and dementia, remained relatively stable over time in this cohort, with no significant increases. Dr Alejandro Garcia, from the Hospital Ramón y Cajal in Madrid, presented these results.

Injectable PrEP clearly works at least as well for cisgender women having vaginal sex as it does for people having anal sex. But there remains some uncertainty as to whether the much lower effectiveness of oral PrEP seen in most studies in women is entirely due to poorer adherence, or whether biological differences in drug absorption and elimination also contribute.

Nearly one in five children with HIV under the age of one year who experienced an interruption in treatment in 2024 subsequently died, a review of over half a million children receiving HIV treatment through US-funded PEPFAR programmes shows. The findings were presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2025) in San Francisco on Monday.

Two broadly neutralising antibodies, teropavimab and zinlirvimab, might be good partners for lenacapavir (Sunlenca) in a long-acting HIV treatment regimen, according to study results presented yesterday at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2025) in San Francisco.

The day before the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2025) opened in San Francisco on Sunday, there was a community workshop on HIV cure science, at which Dr Michael Peluso, a local HIV physician and cure researcher, flagged up two studies to look out for.

The global HIV response is suffering serious disruption due to cuts in US government funding, the closure of USAID and a lack of clarity about future financing, Professor Chris Beyrer, Director of the Duke Global Health Institute at Duke University, North Carolina, told the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2025) in San Francisco on Monday.

Two more people appear to be free of HIV after stem cell transplants for cancer treatment, according to a pair of posters presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2025) this week in San Francisco. If the men remain in remission, they will be the eighth and ninth cases of a functional cure after the procedure.

News reporting by aidsmap will be restarting next week, under the new stewardship of Terrence Higgins Trust.

With deep regret the trustees of NAM Publications, publishers of aidsmap.com, decided in July 2024 that the charity was no longer financially sustainable. While honouring their commitment to staff, partners and service users, the trustees set about ensuring a longevity for the assets aidsmap had built up over four decades.

A survey of over half a million people in low- and middle-income countries found that men and women with disabilities were 25% less likely to have comprehensive knowledge about HIV prevention compared to people without disabilities. They were also less likely to know a place to be tested for HIV. Additionally, women with disabilities were less likely to know how to prevent vertical transmission and to have ever been tested for HIV compared to women without disabilities.

A comprehensive national effort to improve the uptake of cervical screening among women living with HIV in Uganda resulted in more than 280,000 screening visits in the second year of the campaign, up from just 6500 visits in the first six months. The proportion of women with a positive result who received treatment increased from 12% to 84% during the same period, almost achieving the 90% target set by the World Health Organization for cervical cancer elimination by 2030.

A comprehensive national effort to improve the uptake of cervical screening among women living with HIV in Uganda resulted in more than 280,000 screening visits in the second year of the campaign, up from just 6500 visits in the first six months. The proportion of women with a positive result who received treatment increased from 12% to 84% during the same period, almost achieving the 90% target set by the World Health Organization for cervical cancer elimination by 2030.

The emergence of high-level dolutegravir resistance was extremely rare in people switched to first-line dolutegravir-based treatment in Zambia and Malawi, a large prospective study has found. But the risk of having unsuppressed HIV one and two years after switching was six to seven times higher in people who switched to dolutegravir with detectable HIV. The researchers say their findings emphasise the importance of viral load monitoring before switching. The study findings are reported in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

The emergence of high-level dolutegravir resistance was extremely rare in people switched to first-line dolutegravir-based treatment in Zambia and Malawi, a large prospective study has found. But the risk of having unsuppressed HIV one and two years after switching was six to seven times higher in people who switched to dolutegravir with detectable HIV. The researchers say their findings emphasise the importance of viral load monitoring before switching. The study findings are reported in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

The day before the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2025) opened in San Francisco on Sunday, there was a community workshop on HIV cure science, at which Dr Michael Peluso, a local HIV physician and cure researcher, flagged up two studies to look out for.

The global HIV response is suffering serious disruption due to cuts in US government funding, the closure of USAID and a lack of clarity about future financing, Professor Chris Beyrer, Director of the Duke Global Health Institute at Duke University, North Carolina, told the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2025) in San Francisco on Monday.

GINEBRA, 26 de febrero de 2025—El 1 de marzo, Día de la Cero Discriminación, se celebra el derecho de todas las personas a vivir una vida plena y productiva con dignidad. El Día de la Cero Discriminación pone de relieve cómo las personas pueden informarse y promover la inclusión, la compasión, la paz y, sobre todo, es un movimiento en pro de un cambio positivo.

Clinical education should teach a broader understanding of respectful clinical care for racialised women living with HIV from low-income backgrounds, an American study finds. While respecting patient autonomy is important, a singular focus on it may result in providers neglecting other ways that respect can be shown and may have a particular impact on how racialised women receive care within HIV clinics, say Dr Sofia Fernandez of Florida International University and colleagues.

The proportion of people with HIV who remain engaged with HIV care has declined over the years since HIV treatment began to be recommended for all people living with HIV, according to a retrospective cohort study published recently in PLOS Medicine. The study also shows that even after the national adoption of ‘Treat All’ guidelines in 25 countries in the last decade, there were glaring gaps in monitoring long-term HIV care outcomes.

A study designed to find out whether it is necessary or even desirable to test and treat gay and bisexual male and trans-female PrEP users for the bacterial STIs chlamydia or gonorrhoea every three months has produced an inconclusive result. The researchers’ hypothesis was that treating asymptomatic STIs found during quarterly STI testing in PrEP users may have little clinical benefit, over-uses antibiotics with consequences for bacterial resistance, and may inflate the importance of the two STIs as a health problem.