Epidemiology and prevention.

Abstract

The 2006 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections marked the 13th year of this conference and the 25th anniversary of the first published cases of AIDS in gay men in Los Angeles. As noted in the opening plenary session, HIV has likely been present in the human population since the 1930s, and therefore represents a relatively recent disease for humans. However, by the end of 2005, more than 40 million persons were estimated to be living with HIV infection, and 5 million new infections are occurring annually. Investigators at this year's conference presented a number of abstracts focused on the leading edge of the epidemic, HIV testing strategies, the role of acute versus chronic HIV infection in driving the epidemic, and the substantial progress being made in developing and testing a variety of biomedical prevention strategies.