4^th International Conference on HIV/AIDS, STDs and STIs October 03-05, 2016 Orlando, Florida, USA

Learning that you are HIV-positive can be one of the most difficult experiences you go through in life. You may feel scared, sad or even angry – this is OK, and a completely natural part of coping with something that can be life changing. But remember, HIV doesn’t have to stop you living a long, happy and fulfilling life. With the right treatment and support, it is possible to live as long as the average person. There are a lot of misconceptions about what it means to be living with HIV. Ultimately, everyone’s lives are different – how you cope with your diagnosis and how you move forward will be unique. It is a principle, which advocates for the active and meaningful participation of people living with HIV in the design, research and development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all policies and programmers that affect their lives. The participation and leadership of people living with HIV in shaping the way we think about HIV and in guiding the work we do increases the quality of our work and contributes to the goals we are trying to achieve.

HIV-related stigma and discrimination refers to prejudice, negative attitudes and abuse directed at people living with HIV and AIDS. Stigma and discrimination continue to undermine prevention, treatment and care of people living with the HIV and AIDS. It hinders those with the virus from telling their partners about their status. It threatens their access to health care. It increases their vulnerability to physical violence. And HIV-related stigma affects people’s ability to earn a living, making it even more difficult for them to lift themselves out of poverty. The consequences of stigma and discrimination are wide-ranging. Some people are shunned by family, peers and the wider community, while others face poor treatment in healthcare and education settings, erosion of their human rights, and psychological damage. These all limit access to HIV testing, treatment and other HIV services.

HIV continues to be a major global public health issue. Since 2000, 38.1 million people have become infected with HIV and 25.3 million people have died of AIDS-related illnesses. In 2014, an estimated 36.9 million people were living with HIV (including 2.6 million children) – a global HIV prevalence of 0.8%.2 the vast majority of this number live in low- and middle- income countries. In the same year, 1.2 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses. 25.8 million People living with HIV are in sub-Saharan Africa, accounting for 70% of the global total. Only 54% of all people living with HIV know that they have the virus.

• Nearly 37 million people are now living with HIV.
• 2.6 million Are under the age of 15.
• In 2014, an estimated 2 million people were newly infected with HIV.
• 220,000 were under the age of 15.
• Every day about 5,600 people contract HIV—more than 230 every hour.
• In 2014, 1.2 million people died from AIDS.
• 15.8 million people accessing antiretroviral therapy (June 2015)
• 36.9 million [34.3 million–41.4 million] people globally were living with HIV (end 2014)
• 2 million [1.9 million–2.2 million] people became newly infected with HIV (end 2014)
• 1.2 million [980 000–1.6 million] people died from AIDS-related illnesses (end 2014)
• Since the beginning of the pandemic, nearly 78 million people have contracted HIV and close to 39 million have died of AIDS-related causes.
• As of March 2015, around 15 million people living with HIV (41% of the total) had access to antiretroviral therapy.

Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are a major health problem affecting mostly young people, not only in developing, but also in developed countries. We conducted this systematic review to determine awareness and knowledge of school-going male and female adolescents in Europe of STDs and if possible, how they perceive their own risk of contracting an STD. Results of this review can help point out areas where STD risk communication for adolescents needs to be improved.

Emerging infectious diseases represent a grave threat to animal and human populations in terms of their impact on global health, agriculture and the economy. HIV Vaccines developed for emerging infections in animals can protect animal health and prevent transmission of zoonotic diseases to humans. The HIV vaccine technology market is expected to reach $57,885.4 million by 2019 from $33,140.6 million in 2014, at a CAGR of 11.8%. Major factors driving growth of vaccine technology market include rising prevalence of diseases, increasing government initiatives for expanding immunization across the globe, increasing company investments in vaccine development, and rising initiatives by non-government organizations towards HIV/AIDS.

HIV infection represents a spectrum of disease that can begin with a brief acute retroviral syndrome that typically transitions to a multiyear chronic and clinically latent illness. Without treatment, this illness eventually progresses to a symptomatic, life-threatening immunodeficiency disease known as AIDS. In untreated patients, the time between HIV infection and the development of AIDS varies, ranging from a few months to many years with an estimated median time of approximately 11 years (123). HIV replication is present during all stages of the infection and progressively depletes CD4 lymphocytes, which are critical for maintenance of effective immune function. When the CD4 cell count falls below 200 cells/μL, patients are at high risk for life-threatening AIDS-defining opportunistic infections (e.g., Pneumocystis pneumonia, Toxoplasma gondii encephalitis, disseminated Mycobacterium avium complex disease, tuberculosis, and bacterial pneumonia). In the absence of treatment, virtually all HIV-infected persons will die of AIDS. Your health-care provider can diagnose HIV by testing blood for the presence of antibodies (disease-fighting proteins) to HIV. It may take HIV antibodies as long as six months after infection to be produced in quantities large enough to show up in standard blood tests. For that reason, make sure to talk to your health-care provider about follow-up testing.

Globally there are two different types of HIV epidemics. In “concentrated” epidemics, transmission occurs largely in defined vulnerable groups such as sex workers, gay men and other men who have sex with men, and people who use injection drugs. In “generalized” epidemics, transmission is sustained by sexual behavior in the general population and would persist despite effective programs for vulnerable groups. North America has a concentrated epidemic whereas sub-Saharan Africa has a generalized epidemic. HIV epidemic and assess the effectiveness of prevention efforts, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimates the number of people living with HIV (prevalence) and the number of new HIV infections in one year (incidence).

It is important to know the HIV symptoms that are more common amongst women than men. Many people have no symptoms when they first become infected with HIV. Some people may have a flu-like illness (including fever, headache, tiredness and enlarged lymph nodes) within a month or two after exposure to the virus. These symptoms usually disappear within a week to a month and are often mistaken for those of another viral infection. More severe symptoms may not appear for 10 years or more. Even during the asymptomatic period, the virus is active inside a person’s body and can be passed to another person. As the immune system worsens, a variety of complications start to occur. For many people, the first signs of infection are large lymph nodes or “swollen glands” that may be enlarged for more than three months

The development of highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) for HIV infection in the 1990s is one of modern medicine’s most dramatic success stories. Once effectively a death sentence, HIV infection can now be considered a serious, but largely manageable, chronic condition. Today, a person who begins HAART can reasonably expect to live another 30 to 50 years and often well into older age. However, many of the drugs used to treat HIV have not been around for very long. Whereas short-term side-effects are well researched and documented, longer-term side-effects are less well understood. Some HIV drugs affect the kidneys, liver, bones and heart in subtle ways. As part of your routine health monitoring, your healthcare professional will keep an eye on how well your body is working, so any problems can be identified and treated early.

According to one estimate, bone loss may be up to three times more common overall among people with HIV than in the general population.1 Many of the traditional risk factors for osteoporosis, such as low testosterone levels, low body weight, smoking, and drinking alcohol, are also more common in the HIV-positive population and likely contribute to increased prevalence of osteoporosis and osteopenia. Bones are the foundation of our bodies; without healthy bones, we can become vulnerable to poor overall health. People with HIV are susceptible to bone loss, and to a condition called osteoporosis that may lead to fractures. In addition, as people with HIV are living longer due to effective antiretroviral therapy, bone complications may worsen as a result of aging and long-term HIV disease. Aging, antiretroviral drugs, traditional bone loss risk factors, and lifestyle all contribute to bone deterioration in the setting of HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus-infected individuals are at increased risk for CVD. Timely initiation of ART with consequent viral suppression is likely to reduce CVD events and to offset potential side effects from ART-induced metabolic changes. Reduction in smoking in HIV-infected individuals is a public health priority. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) includes a group of problems related to the heart (cardio) or to blood vessels (vascular.) CVD coronary heart disease (heart attacks), angina (chest pain from lack of blood to the heart ), cerebrovascular disease (problems with blood vessels in the brain, including stroke), high blood pressure (hypertension), peripheral artery disease (blocked blood vessels in the legs), rheumatic heart disease (a complication of a throat infection), congenital heart disease (due to a birth defect) and heart failure.

There are a number of infections and cancers that can develop in people who are living with HIV. There are infections that can be life threatening. These are also known as opportunistic infections. The more common life-threatening infections include a lung infection called Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP), an eye infection caused by cytomegalovirus (CMV), a brain infection called toxoplasmosis, and a generalized infection called Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC). Cancers that are more common include Hodgkin’s lymphoma, lung cancer, skin cancer, anal cancer, cervical and vaginal cancer in women, and testicular and prostate cancer in men. These cancers can often be successfully treated if they occur in people with HIV who maintain healthy immune systems with HIV treatment.

The development of drugs for HIV infection began soon after the virus was discovered 25 years ago. Since then, progress has been substantial, but numerous uncertainties persist about the best way to manage this disease. Here we review the current treatment options, consider novel mechanisms that can be exploited for existing drug targets, and explore the potential of novel targets. With a view to the next quarter century, we consider whether drug resistance can be avoided, which drug classes will be favoured over others, which strategies are most likely to succeed, and the potential impact of pharmacogenomics and individualized therapy.

Depending on the disease, STDs can be spread with any type of sexual activity. STDs are most often caused by viruses and bacteria. The following is a list of the most common STDs, their causes. Additionally, there are other infections (see STDs with asterisk mark*) that may be transmitted on occasion by sexual activity, but these are typically not considered to be STDs by many investigators. The main difference between these two categories of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) is what causes them — bacterial STDs are caused by bacteria and viral STDs are caused by viruses. As a result of being caused by different microorganisms, bacterial and viral STDs vary in their treatment. Bacterial STDs, such as gonorrhea, syphilis, and chlamydia, are often cured with antibiotics. However, viral STDs, (the four “H’s”) such as HIV, HPV (genital warts), herpes, and hepatitis (the only STD that can be prevented with a vaccine), have no cure, but their symptoms can be alleviated with treatment. In addition to bacteria and viruses, STDs can also be caused by protozoa (trichomoniasis) and other organisms (crabs/pubic lice and scabies). These STDs can be cured with antibiotics or topical creams/lotions. One of the most common symptoms of an STD is no symptoms. So it’s important to go for check-ups. 80 percent of women and 40 percent of men diagnosed with chlamydia may not experience symptoms. STDs need to be diagnosed correctly and fully treated as soon as possible to avoid complications that could be serious and/or permanent.

Vaccines have been our best weapon against the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, including smallpox, polio, measles, and yellow fever. An effective preventive AIDS vaccine would teach the body how to prevent HIV infection. Vaccines are the most powerful public health tools available and an AIDS vaccine would play a powerful role in ensuring the end to the AIDS epidemic. An HIV vaccines does not yet exist, but efforts to develop a vaccine against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, have been underway for many years.

Virology is the study of viruses – submicroscopic, parasitic particles of genetic material contained in a protein coat and virus-like agents. Virology is often considered a part of microbiology or of pathology. Viruses and viral diseases have been at the centers of science, agriculture, and medicine for millennia and some of our greatest challenges and triumphs have involved virology. Our STD AIDS conference is bringing experts from the field of HIV, STD AIDS, STIs Vaccines, virology and Immunology or discussion of the latest advances and ideas and to stimulate interdisciplinary interactions. Conference like ours will help to speed up of the development of effective therapies for viral disorders. Curtailing the spread of infectious disease traditionally has been accomplished through use of vaccines, antibiotics, antiviral drugs, and public health measures. But in the face of challenges like drug-resistant microbes and the emergence of HIV, future answers hinge on progressive research in molecular virology and microbiology.

Viral Immunology is the study of all aspects of the immune system in all organisms. It deals with the physiological functioning of the immune system in states of both health and disease; malfunctions of the immune system in immunological disorders (autoimmune diseases, hypersensitivities, immune deficiency, transplant rejection); the physical, chemical and physiological characteristics of the components of the immune system in vitro, in situ, and in vivo.

Viruses are strongly immunogenic and induces 2 types of immune responses; humoral and cellular. The repertoire of specificities of T and B cells are formed by rearrangements and somatic mutations. T and B cells do not generally recognize the same epitopes present on the same virus. B cells see the free unaltered proteins in their native 3-D conformation whereas T cells usually see the Ag in a denatured form in conjunction with MHC molecules. The characteristics of the immune reaction to the same virus may differ in different individuals depending on their genetic constitutions.

Human and animal viral immunology

Immunological characterization of viral components

Pathogenic mechanisms

Virus-based immunological diseases, including autoimmune syndromes

Research and development of viral vaccines, including field trials

Viral diagnostics

Tumor and cancer immunology with virus as the primary factor

Viral immunology methods

EBOLA, FLU, HIV...