Reflecting on how far we have come scientifically since isolating HIV in 1983, Anthony S. Fauci urges a renewed commitment to the far greater challenges ahead, especially that of vaccine development.

HIV-1 assembly depends on its structural protein, Gag, which after synthesis on ribosomes, traffics to the late endosome/plasma membrane, associates with HIV Env glycoprotein, and forms infectious virions. While Env and Gag migrate to lipid microdomains, their stoichiometry and specificity of interaction are unknown. Pseudotyped viral particles can be made with one viral core surrounded by heterologous envelope proteins. Taking advantage of this property, we analyzed the association of HIV Env and Ebola glycoprotein (GP), with HIV-1 Gag coexpressed in the same cell. Though both viral glycoproteins were expressed, each associated independently with Gag, giving rise to distinct virion populations, each with a single glycoprotein type. Confocal imaging demonstrated that Env and GP localized to distinct lipid raft microdomains within the same cell where they associated with different virions. Thus, a single Gag particle associates “quantally” with one lipid raft, containing homogeneous trimeric viral envelope proteins, to assemble functional virions.

Investigators in the US are calling for male circumcision and partner reduction to become the focus of prevention efforts in countries with generalised HIV epidemics. In a paper published in the May 9th edition of Science, they argue that although condom use, testing, and treatment of sexually transmitted infections are of value, resource constraints mean that attention should be shifted to the promotion of initiatives known to work: male circumcision and partner reduction. A separate article in the British Medical Journal argues that a gay "rights agenda" set the scene for HIV exceptionalism, maintaining that only 10% of the current annual budget is needed for HIV programmes and that UNAIDS should be abolished.

The most expansive public health investigation in U.S. history has added more names to the list of patients who've contracted hepatitis C from the reuse of syringes and vials at Las Vegas area clinics.

Cuba diagnosticó un total de 9.304 casos de personas contagiadas con el virus del VIH/sida hasta diciembre de 2007, con mayor prevalencia en los hombres, informó hoy la directora del Centro Nacional de Prevención de Infecciones de Transmisión Sexual y VIH, Rosaida Ochoa. El 80 por ciento de los portadores del virus en la isla son del sexo masculino, y entre ellos el 84 por ciento son hombres que tienen sexo con otros hombres, indicó Ochoa, quien presentó en La Habana la Jornada por el Día mundial contra la homofobia y la transfobia que se celebrará el próximo 17 de mayo.

According to a new policy analysis led by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the University of California, Berkeley, the most common HIV prevention strategies—condom promotion, HIV testing, treatment of other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), vaccine and microbicide research, and abstinence—are having a limited impact on the predominantly heterosexual epidemics found in Africa. Furthermore, some of the assumptions underlying such strategies—such as poverty or war being major causes of AIDS in Africa—are unsupported by rigorous scientific evidence. The researchers argue that two interventions currently getting less attention and resources—male circumcision and reducing multiple sexual partnerships—would have a greater impact on the AIDS pandemic and should become the cornerstone of HIV prevention efforts in the high-HIV-prevalence parts of Africa.

At the end of February, eight people who underwent procedures at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas were diagnosed with hepatitis C. Therefore, Southern Nevada Health District officials revoked the clinic business license and, as a precaution, recommended nearly 40,000 people who received anesthesia at the clinic between March 2004 and January 11 of this year be tested for all trains of hepatitis as well as HIV. Hepatitis C is a chronic, potentially fatal virus that can cause liver ailments, including cancer and lifer failure. The concern is higher than usual, as many patients who contract the blood-borne hepatitis C are asymptomatic for many years. Early symptoms include jaundice, nausea, and fatigue. The disease is most often transmitted by sharing unclean needles and syringes. Things seem to worsen for the clinic as Nevada health officials reported Thursday 77 new cases of hepatitis C among patients treated at the clinic. The infections were caused by the reuse of anesthesia syringes among multiple patients. Records show the patients were in good health before seeking treatment at the Nevada clinic.

The billions of dollars spent on Aids prevention programmes based on HIV vaccines, wide-scale testing and the promotion of condoms or sexual abstinence have turned out to be less effective than a simple surgical operation to remove the foreskin. Some of the world's most distinguished scientists have warned that the "central pillars" of HIV prevention – from condom use to HIV vaccines – have crumbled in the worst-affected regions of sub-Saharan Africa.

A quarter century of scientific discovery has been applied to developing an AIDS vaccine, yet this goal remains elusive. Specific characteristics of the virus, including the extreme genetic variability in circulating viral isolates worldwide, biological properties of HIV that impede immune attack, and a high mutation rate that allows for rapid escape from adaptive immune responses, render this a huge challenge. However, evidence of protection against AIDS viruses in animal models and control of HIV in humans under certain circumstances, together with scientific advances in understanding disease pathogenesis, provide a strong rationale and objective paths to continue the pursuit of an effective AIDS vaccine to stem the global epidemic.

The outcome of the efficacy trial of an adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5) vectorbased HIV-1 vaccine last November (STEP trial) was unexpected. Not only was the vaccine ineffective at lowering plasma viremia postinfection, but it may have increased the risk of acquiring HIV-1 infection. Although firm conclusions cannot be drawn based on the small number of infections that occurred (49 in the vaccinated patient group, 33 in the placebo group), it has been suggested that vaccineinduced generalized immune activation, which can promote HIV-1 replication, might have increased the infection risk (1).