The world's largest conference on AIDS has begun in Sydney. More than 5,000 HIV experts and community leaders from around the world will review progress on tackling AIDS.

Two new studies emphasize the importance of delivering measles and influenza vaccines to HIV-infected individuals. Both studies are published in the August 1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online.

This international collaboration has been the largest ever to have taken place in a large scale study on genetic differences between patients infected by HIV, and is the first study of this kind in the field of infectious disease.

The first genome-wide association study of an infectious disease, conducted by an international group of researchers through the Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology (CHAVI), has yielded a new understanding of why some people can suppress virus levels following HIV infection.

An international team of researchers has identified three gene variants in the DNA of 486 people infected with HIV that appear to have helped some of the patients fight off the virus and delay the onset of full-blown AIDS.

Since the transmission of HIV and Hepatitis B virus (HBV) are so similar, individuals infected with one of these viruses are at a significantly increased risk for contracting the other.

HIV-infected children may require repeat measles vaccination for protection, according to new research from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and other institutions. The researchers found that only half of the HIV-infected children who survived without antiretroviral therapy maintained protective antibody levels 27 months after receiving measles vaccine.

A clinical trial involving 5,045 women in South Africa and Zimbabwe found no statistical difference in the rate of new HIV infections in the two study arms: those who received a diaphragm plus lubricant along with male condoms for their partners and those who only received male condoms.

Dr. Éric A. Cohen, a researcher at the IRCM (Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal), and his team will publish on Friday, July 13, in PLoS Pathogens a discovery that could lead to the development of a new class of drugs to combat HIV.

After leveling off for more than two years – and declining in 2006 – new syphilis cases spiked in New York City during the first three months of 2007. The Health Department announced today that doctors reported 260 new cases of primary and secondary syphilis during January, February and March, compared with 128 cases during the same period last year.

Olive oil has become part of the fight against the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) – the cause of AIDS – thanks to the research carried out by the Bionat team, from the University of Granada, headed by Prof. Andrés García-Granados, senior lecturer in Organic Chemistry.

There are many effective, albeit expensive, intervention programs aimed at encouraging HIV-positive people to practice less risky behavior. But a new UCLA AIDS Institute study has found that self-monitoring by these patients is not only an effective strategy but is inexpensive and easy to implement as well.