Infectious Disease Frontier

Over the years, significant progress has been made in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS and co-infections. Society has provided the best medications and professional knowledge to combat HIV infections, making substantial contributions to those affected. From June 8th to 10th, 2023, the Asia-Pacific AIDS and Co-Infections Conference (APACC 2023) was held in Singapore. In this issue, we are honored to invite Dr. Lang Bai, Deputy Director of the Infectious Diseases Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, China, to share with us the latest research on Talaromyces marneffei infection, a common fungal disease among AIDS patients and other immunocompromised individuals in Southeast Asia.

Honorary Dr. at the Amsterdam University Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, former President of the European AIDS Clinical Society (EACS) (2008-2012), former Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia on the Governing Council of the International AIDS Society (IAS) (2006-2014), Co-Chair of the 22nd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2018), Director of the Netherlands HIV Monitoring Foundation, member of the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH/NAID) HIV Vaccine Data and Safety Monitoring Board, and member of various committees including CROI, EACS, and HIV Glasgow. At the APACC 2023 conference, Dr. Peter Reiss was invited to give keynote speeches in several specialized sessions and also presented the "Lifetime Achievement Award" at the conference. Following Dr. Reiss's insightful presentation on "Improving the Quality of Life for HIV/AIDS Patients," our publication's reporter conducted an in-depth interview with him at the conference venue.

The 8th Asia-Pacific AIDS and Co-infection Conference (APACC 2023) was held in Singapore from June 8 to 10, 2023. During this conference, an oral presentation (Abstract #9) conducted by Dr. Linghua Li's team from the Eighth Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, China, attracted significant attention. Dr. Li 's team, based on the latest findings from a large cohort study, revealed that the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) clearance rate in HIV/HBV co-infected individuals who received long-term combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) could reach 8.1%. Furthermore, the research results unveiled that the main influencing factors for HBsAg clearance in HIV/HBV co-infected individuals included low baseline HBsAg levels, HBV genotype B, and a more than two-fold increase in ALT within six months of treatment.

In 2021, the United Nations set forth the goal of "ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030". To achieve this, not only must countries strengthen the diagnosis and treatment of HIV infections, but they also need to prioritize prevention to minimize the emergence of new infections. Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) long-acting regimens have become a recent focal point in HIV prevention. At the recently held 12th International AIDS Society HIV Science Conference (IAS 2023), there were several keynote lectures on the topic of long-acting PrEP. Infectious Disease Frontier had the privilege to interview Dr. Deborah Donnell from the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center at the University of Washington, who shared her insights on the challenges faced in HIV prevention and the characteristics of the new long-acting PrEP regimen.