Aidsmap.com on CROI (the Retroviruses conference)

For excellent reports on the 17th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), San Francisco Feb. 16-19, 2010, see http://www.aidsmap.com/cms1374931.aspx.

Topics reported include:

Successful hepatitis C treatment reduces HIV disease progression and non-liver-related mortality 

Antiretroviral drugs have variable effects on bones and fat, lipoatrophy uncommon with modern regimens

HIV treatment may prevent at least nine out of ten transmissions

Vitamin D deficiency extremely common among HIV-positive patients in diverse regions

Maraviroc showing tantalising promise as microbicide in preclinical studies

Smoking cessation lowers cardiovascular risk in D:A:D cohort

Immune restoration in DART study: late start means low CD4 count for years

New CCR5 antagonist TBR-652 shows good antiviral activity in early study

Elvitegravir 'Quad' pill performs well, new booster cobicistat works as well as ritonavir

Risk factors for lung cancer in people with HIV: smoking vastly outweighs HIV

Goosby warns of need for long-term funding commitment for AIDS, says financial trades tax is 'interesting'

and many more.