2018 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI)

2018 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI)

CDC Experts Present Innovative Research at CROI in Boston

From March 4-7, experts from CDC’s Division of Global HIV & TB (DGHT) will attend the annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Boston, Massachusetts.CROI brings together top researchers from around the world to share the latest studies, important developments, and the best research methods in the global fight against HIV, Tuberculosis (TB) and related infectious diseases.

Nearly 40 abstracts from CDC experts were accepted on various topics, including CDC’s efforts to address HIV/TB co-infection, our work to combat drug-resistant TB, and the most recent data from CDC-supported surveys highlighting the impact of global efforts to control HIV. Here are just a few of the highlights:

• Progress Toward 90-90-90: 2016 Lesotho Population-Based HIV Impact Assessment Results - Experts from DGHT’s Epidemiology and Surveillance Branch, and International Laboratory Branch and CDC-Lesotho co-authored an abstract highlighting the results from the Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (PHIA) in Lesotho that show progress towards achieving global 90-90-90 targets for HIV control. These PHIA results are helping to inform future programs to confront the global epidemic, and focus country efforts and resources for maximal impact and efficiency. 
     
• Expanded HIV Testing in Areas with High HIV Burden - Under Kenya’s current guidelines, clients who have tested negative for HIV in the past 3 to 12 months are not eligible to be retested at government health facilities. CDC-Kenya’s Kisumu and Nairobi teams analyzed how expanded testing eligibility influenced HIV diagnosis rates in three counties in Western Kenya. The new findings reveal important insights for accelerating epidemic control in areas greatly affected by HIV.    
• Finding and Treating TB to Extend the Lives of People Living with HIV - This session will explore whether interventions to identify TB cases and help people complete their treatments could extend the lives of those on antiretroviral therapy (ART). DGHT's Atlanta and Botswana-based teams led this new study in collaboration with the Botswana Ministry of Health and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Researchers investigated the effects of intensified efforts to diagnose TB and trace patients with missed clinic appointments on patients undergoing ART in Botswana.

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CDC’s Division of Global HIV & TB Resources

Please see the following resources on CDC’s efforts to fight HIV and TB globally:

• CDC's Global HIV Overview – a historical look at CDC’s leadership in the fight against HIV
• CDC Global TB Factsheet – the burden of TB around the world and CDC’s response
• CDC Global HIV Factsheet – the global HIV burden and how CDC addresses this epidemic
• Success Stories – read more about CDC’s lifesaving global HIV and TB work in action