Southern African HIV Clinicians Society Conference – Striving for Clinical Excellence, 2012 – Best Abstracts

Southern African HIV Clinicians Society

doi:10.7196/sajhivmed.893

Abstract

Over 100 scientific abstracts were submitted for consideration by the scientific programme committee of the Society's conference, Striving for Clinical Excellence. The top nine papers were chosen and the authors were invited to present during the conference in Cape Town in November 2012. A panel comprised of Profs Linda-Gail Bekker, Brian Eley, Koleka Mlisana and Ian Sanne judged the papers and presentations and selected the best abstract and a runner-up. The first and second place winners were awarded a cash prize of R10 000 and R5 000, respectively, sponsored by Discovery Health.

Highlights

Sub-Saharan Africa is the world’s most HIV/AIDSaffected region
Crude HIV-negative and HIV-positive saliva inhibited HIV-1 in an in vitro pseudoviral assay in a doseresponse nature
A sputum sample >1 ml was acquired in a higher proportion of induced v. instructed participants (90% v. 76%; p

Summary

Introduction

Sub-Saharan Africa is the world’s most HIV/AIDSaffected region. More interventions to manage this pandemic are urgently required. The rapid scale-up of antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage in the last decade has improved access to treatment; it has coincided with an increasing number of patients failing treatment. An intervention to improve adherence in patients failing second-line ART was introduced at a primary care clinic in Khayelitsha. Since 2010, initial antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIVinfected children in South Africa has consisted of abacavir (ABC), lamivudine (3TC), and efavirenz (EFV), while second-line ART has comprised zidovudine (AZT), didanosie (ddI) and ritonavir-boosted lopinavir (LOP/r). We sought to determine the rate of virological failure (VF) and describe prevalent drug-resistance mutations among Clade C-infected children. Retention in care is required for optimal clinical outcomes in patients with HIV infection. Sutherlandia fructescens is widely used as a traditional medication by HIV-seropositive adults living in South Africa; the safety of the use of the plant has not been studied objectively. An adaptive 2-stage randomised double-blind placebo-controlled study was used to evaluate the use of S. fructescens in healthy HIV-seropositive adults with a CD4 T-lymphocyte count >350 cells/μl

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