Highlights of the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, 4–9 March 2019, Seattle, WA, USA

Abstract

The 26th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections 2019 meeting (CROI 2019) took place on 4–9 March in Seattle, WA, USA. This meeting provides up-to-date information of outstanding quality on HIV prevention, treatment and cure research as well as comorbidities. The case of viraemia remission over 18 months after antiretroviral therapy (ART) discontinuation in a patient who had received stem cell transplantation, otherwise known as the ‘London Patient‘, was one of the highlights of the meeting and produced much excitement among attendees and the international press. There was ongoing new data regarding the issue of potential teratogenicity with integrase inhibitors as raised in May 2018 in a cohort in Botswana. Impressive novel preventative and therapeutic agents and options for HIV were also presented together with important issues in terms of clinical management, opportunistic infections, sexually transmitted infections and comorbidities such as ageing, cognitive dysfunction and weight gain.