The 19th Annual International Meeting of the Institute of Human Virology (IHV) was organized from October 23- 26, 2017 at Baltimore, Maryland. IHV's Annual International Meeting attracted hundreds of elite scientists who descended upon Baltimore to share ideas and inspire medical virus research collaborations. Additionally, a set of junior investigators also participated and submitted their research abstracts in this meeting for oral and poster presentations.
The Annual Meeting 2017 has featured the presentations and intense discussion on the below therapeutic research domains:
- HIV "Cure" Research
- Preventative and Therapeutic Vaccines
- Immunology and Viral Pathogenesis
- Viral Diagnostics
- Emerging Concepts in Cancer Therapy
- Cancer and Stem Cells
- Infectious Agents and Cancer
- Public Health Science and Responses - From Local to Global
- Clinical Virology - Cardiovascular and Liver Complications of Viral Infections
The 2017 IHV Lifetime Achievement Award for Public Service was awarded to an Indian origin researcher couple:
Quarraisha Abdool Karim, PhD, Associate Scientific Director, Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), Adjunct Professor in Public Health, Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and
Salim Abdool Karim, MBChB, PhD, DSc, Director & Professor for Global Health Department of Epidemiology, Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research), University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa22.
They are the first researchers to report that antiretroviral could prevent sexual transmission of HIV by their CAPRISA 004 Clinical Trial. The trial results recommended that Tenofovir (Antiretroviral) gel used before and after sex reduces HIV infection by 39 percent, and women who used the gel more often were up to 54 percent less likely to contract HIV. The trial also suggests that Tenofovir gel usage before and after sex reduces genital herpes infections by 51 percent23.
Footnotes
22 http://news.medschool.umaryland.edu/?a=3664&z=51
23 https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac:181777
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