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ICAAC Meeting Underway in San Francisco -- HIV, HCV, HPV, Flu, and More

The 52nd Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy -- better known as ICAAC -- opened Sunday, September 9, at San Francisco's Moscone Center.

ICAAC covers the gamut of infectious diseases, including HIV, viral hepatitis, human papillomavirus (HPV), other sexually transmitted infections, tuberculosis, and other viral, bacterial, and fungal pathogens.

The conference kicked off with an overview by Charles Rice, PhD, of Rockefeller University of emerging issues in the management of hepatitis C -- one of the hottest topics in the infectious disease field due to the advent of direct-acting antiviral drugs that have ushered in a new era of treatment.

On the HIV front, 2 poster presentations on Sunday looked at cardiovascular disease in people with HIV, suggesting that HIV positive people develop coronary artery disease at younger ages, but are diagnosed later when they have more advanced heart damage.

New treatments will receive considerable attention at the conference, including a novel long-acting HIV fusion inhibitor known as albuvirtide and a next-generation nitroimidazole drug for tuberculosis. Researchers are also working on topoisomerase inhibitors that "have the potential to be the first new broad-spectrum class of antibiotics in more than 50 years," according to Michael Pucci, PhD, from Achillion Pharmaceuticals, who presented an overview of new therapies at a Sunday media briefing.

Other notable topics will include new drugs and vaccines for influenza and discussion of appropriate populations to receive HPV vaccination for prevention of cervical and anal cancer.

The ICAAC 2012 program, abstracts, and videos of selected presentations are available online. Follow breaking news on Twitter with hashtag #ICAAC.

Follow HIVandHepatitis coverage during the week at our ICAAC 2012 conference page, our Facebook page, or via Twitter @HIVandHepatitis.

9/9/12