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The 2019 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections provided a considerable amount of new information on the progress in implementation of strategies to reduce morbidity and mortality from complications and coinfections that occur in people with HIV infection, and on the clinical management of these important problems. This review will address new insights into the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis, fungal infections, sexually transmitted infections, malignancies, and a range of metabolic complications and noncommunicable diseases.

HIV-infected individuals on effective antiretroviral therapy experience a number of non-AIDS noncommunicable diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, more frequently than uninfected individuals. Common pathways for such diseases are chronic immune activation and inflammation, including the prolonged inflammation associated with lower nadir CD4+ cell count. Prevention and treatment of non-AIDS conditions include treatment of traditional risk factors, lifestyle interventions, earlier initiation of antiretroviral therapy, and potentially therapies specifically targeting inflammation and immune activation (eg, statins). This article summarizes a presentation by Judith S. Currier, MD, at the IAS-USA continuing education program, Improving the Management of HIV Disease, held in New York, New York, in February 2017.

This year marked the 25th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), and although there is much progress to celebrate in terms of treatment of HIV infection and expanding ART globally, many challenges remain. Tuberculosis is still the leading cause of death among people with HIV infection globally. This year, the results of investments in research to improve the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis were a highlight of the meeting. Noninfectious causes remain an important source of morbidity. Progress in identifying risk factors for non-AIDS complications and improvements in screening and monitoring for such conditions continue to be reported, but to date, despite the efforts of many investigators around the globe, interventions to effectively reduce HIV-related inflammation beyond effective and safer antiretroviral therapy (ART) remain elusive. This section will review highlights of the meeting on tuberculosis and cryptococcal infection as well as complications of long-term ART.

Complications of HIV disease remained a major focus at the 2017 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), and included studies focused on noncommunicable chronic diseases (eg, cardiovascular disease, obesity, bone disease, and malignancies) and opportunistic infections (Mycobacterium tuberculosis and cryptococcosis). Progress in identifying predictors of specific complications as well as interventions for the prevention and treatment of these comorbidities are summarized below.

BackgroundHealth benefits of postpartum antiretroviral therapy (ART) for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive women with high CD4+ T-counts have not been assessed in randomized trials.MethodsAsymptomatic, HIV-positive, non-breastfeeding women with pre-ART CD4+ T-cell counts ≥ 400 cells/mm3 started on ART during pregnancy were randomized up to 42 days after delivery to continue or discontinue ART. Lopinavir/ritonavir plus tenofovir/emtricitabine was the preferred ART regimen. The sample size was selected to provide 88% power to detect a 50% reduction from an annualized primary event rate of 2.07%. A post-hoc analysis evaluated HIV/AIDS-related and World Health Organization (WHO) Stage 2 and 3 events. All analyses were intent to treat.Results1652 women from 52 sites in Argentina, Botswana, Brazil, China, Haiti, Peru, Thailand and the US were enrolled (1/2010-11/2014). Median age was 28 years and major racial categories were Black African (28%), Asian (25%) White (15%). Median entry CD4 count was 696 cells/mm3 (IQR 575-869), median ART exposure prior to delivery was 19 weeks (IQR 13-24) and 94% had entry HIV-1 RNA < 1000 copies/ml. After a median follow-up of 2.3 years, the primary composite endpoint rate was significantly lower than expected, and not significantly different between arms (continue arm 0.21 /100 person years(py); discontinue 0.31/100 py, Hazard ratio (HR) 0.68, 95% CI: 0.19, 2.40). WHO Stage 2 and 3 events were significantly reduced with continued ART (2.08/100 py vs. 4.36/100 py in the discontinue arm; HR 0.48, 95%CI: 0.33, 0.70). Toxicity rates did not differ significantly between arms. Among women randomized to continue ART, 189/827 (23%) had virologic failure; of the 155 with resistance testing, 103 (66%) failed without resistance to their current regimen, suggesting non-adherence.ConclusionsOverall, serious clinical events were rare among young HIV-positive post-partum women with high CD4 cell counts. Continued ART was safe and was associ

BackgroundHealth benefits of postpartum antiretroviral therapy (ART) for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive women with high CD4+ T-counts have not been assessed in randomized trials.MethodsAsymptomatic, HIV-positive, non-breastfeeding women with pre-ART CD4+ T-cell counts ≥ 400 cells/mm3 started on ART during pregnancy were randomized up to 42 days after delivery to continue or discontinue ART. Lopinavir/ritonavir plus tenofovir/emtricitabine was the preferred ART regimen. The sample size was selected to provide 88% power to detect a 50% reduction from an annualized primary event rate of 2.07%. A post-hoc analysis evaluated HIV/AIDS-related and World Health Organization (WHO) Stage 2 and 3 events. All analyses were intent to treat.Results1652 women from 52 sites in Argentina, Botswana, Brazil, China, Haiti, Peru, Thailand and the US were enrolled (1/2010-11/2014). Median age was 28 years and major racial categories were Black African (28%), Asian (25%) White (15%). Median entry CD4 count was 696 cells/mm3 (IQR 575-869), median ART exposure prior to delivery was 19 weeks (IQR 13-24) and 94% had entry HIV-1 RNA < 1000 copies/ml. After a median follow-up of 2.3 years, the primary composite endpoint rate was significantly lower than expected, and not significantly different between arms (continue arm 0.21 /100 person years(py); discontinue 0.31/100 py, Hazard ratio (HR) 0.68, 95% CI: 0.19, 2.40). WHO Stage 2 and 3 events were significantly reduced with continued ART (2.08/100 py vs. 4.36/100 py in the discontinue arm; HR 0.48, 95%CI: 0.33, 0.70). Toxicity rates did not differ significantly between arms. Among women randomized to continue ART, 189/827 (23%) had virologic failure; of the 155 with resistance testing, 103 (66%) failed without resistance to their current regimen, suggesting non-adherence.ConclusionsOverall, serious clinical events were rare among young HIV-positive post-partum women with high CD4 cell counts. Continued ART was safe and was associ