[Press Kit, International Conference on AIDS (13th : 2000 : Durban, South Africa), compiled by the International AIDS Society]

...-5.IAS
INTERNATIONAL
SOCIETY
1994 FDA approved another reverse transcriptase inhibitor: d4T. Benetton launched
an Ad campaign with a Ronald Regan picture showing the sign of Kaposi's
Sarcoma. The X International Conference on AIDS was held in Yokohama: it
was the last annual conference. The number of AIDS cases were globally
985,119, with a 37% increase from the previous year, however, the WHO
estimated a significantly higher number of cases: about 4 million. The distribution
of reported AIDS cases was: 42% in the USA, 33.5% in Africa, 11.5% in Europe,
11.5% in Latin America and 1% in Asia. According to the estimated cases of
AIDS the distribution was quite different: more than 67% in Africa, 12% in Latin
America, 10% in USA, 6% in Asia and more than 4% in Europe. The estimated
number of people infected with HIV worldwide was 16 million with 1 million of
infected children (mostly in Africa). The sensation of defeat produced by the
results of the Concorde trial speeded up the research on combination therapy.
Two studies showed that AZT was effective in reducing the transmission of HIV
infection from mother to child. The health authorities recognized that the
adoption of proper preventive measures could significantly reduce the new cases
of infection, particularly in the developing world. To meet such a goal 2,5 billion
of $US would be needed: the amount produced by the purchase of a single can of
Coca Cola by each inhabitant of the planet, if assigned to prevention.
1995 For the first time in ten years there was not an International AIDS Conference.
The WHO estimated 15 million of people with HIV infection worldwide as to
June with more than 30 million positive people by year 2000. The WHO
estimated 10 million deaths due to AIDS by the year 2000 with 5 million of
infected children and 10 million orphaned by AIDS below ten years of age. The
Delta and ACTG 175 trials showed that combination therapy was the way to
follow for the management of HIV infection. The first marketed protease
inhibitor, saquinavir, was registered together with 3TC (another inhibitor of
reverse transcriptase). Greg Luganis, Olympic champion, announced to have
AIDS.
1996 It is the year of the turning point. Monotherapy and even double therapy are not
to use any longer. In January, results from clinical trials showed the efficacy of
the Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART), the combination of two
inhibitors of reverse transcriptase and one protease inhibitor, which will soon
become the gold standard of the therapy of HIV infection. At the same time, a
kit to monitor the viral load is developed. Clinical trials showed that the viral load
assessment significantly predicts the progression of the disease but allows the
monitoring of therapy in the individual patient as well. The goal of therapy is now

to lower the viral load as much as possible: below the level of detection but with
the final aim to have no circulating HIV-RNA in the plasma. David Ho presented