{"id":11298,"date":"2024-08-19T11:47:26","date_gmt":"2024-08-19T15:47:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/?p=11298"},"modified":"2024-08-19T11:47:26","modified_gmt":"2024-08-19T15:47:26","slug":"more-on-munich-and-the-25th-annual-international-aids-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/index.php\/more-on-munich-and-the-25th-annual-international-aids-conference\/2024\/08\/19\/","title":{"rendered":"More on Munich and the 25th Annual International AIDS Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

Longtime readers may note the absence of this year’s Really Rapid Review<\/em>\u2122 (RRR) of the latest big HIV conference, the one that just happened in Munich. These RRR posts have been a regular on this site for a gazillion years, give or take a few, with a brief break during the peak of the pandemic.<\/p>\n

My excuse this time? Pretty mundane, I’m afraid. Due to some additional obligations, deadlines, and other matters, I simply never got around to it. And of course if I write it now, more than 2 weeks after the conference has ended, it would classify solely as a Review<\/em>, not meeting the validated criteria for being a Really Rapid<\/em> one. Oh well.<\/p>\n

For just under 40% of you, however, you might not even notice. The evidence? Here’s the results of the poll<\/a> on who you are — many thanks for voting!<\/p>\n

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Not-so-bold statement — for most of the non-ID readers, the RRR posts probably aren’t your cup of tea anyway. For each conference summary, you probably scrolled to the bottom for the funny video*, or just skipped the post entirely.<\/p>\n

(*Important note — there are some funny videos at the end of this post.)<\/p>\n

The results of this poll were a pleasant surprise, as one of my goals in writing has always been to appeal to a broader audience, even if the core of what I write about is my specialty, Infectious Diseases. Let’s face it, the community of ID specialists is small, in inverse proportion to the number of microbes, antimicrobials, and taxonomic changes over the years for various fungi*.<\/p>\n

(*Total inside joke, that last one, about the fungi. Candida krusei<\/em> is now Pichia kudriavzevii<\/em><\/a>? C’mon, give me a break.)<\/p>\n

As a compensation to our ID readers, I offer instead something I hope you’ll find of interest, which is a video of a Munich conference summary<\/a> I did with one of the leaders in the HIV field, Dr. Laura Waters. She covered the HIV treatment studies; the prevention and non-ART complications went to me. But we both chimed in frequently on each other’s presentations, with lots of active discussion.<\/p>\n

Plus, if you don’t know about Laura, you certainly should — she’s a GU\/HIV consultant and the HIV Lead at the Mortimer Market Centre in London, and the former chair of the British HIV Association (BHIVA), among other achievements.<\/p>\n

She’s also an insightful analyst of HIV clinical research, a go-to person to give a skilled and often trenchant interpretation of a study’s design, analysis, and conclusions. If you’re wondering who that intelligent and funny person is with the English accent who pops up first to the conference microphone after a study presentation — the person asking the best<\/em> question — let me introduce you to Dr. Laura Waters.<\/p>\n

(She even has a Wikipedia page<\/a>! Impressed.)<\/p>\n

Anyway, here’s the video. Enjoy!<\/p>\n