Meeting report: 30th International Conference on Antiviral Research, in Atlanta, GA, USA

Vere Hodge, R Anthony

When recruiting couples into the study, counselling and supply of condoms reduces the expected transmission rate by more than two-thirds but some transmissions do occur. In approximately three-fourths of these transmissions, the newly infecting virus can be genetically linked to the partner's virus. HIV transmission involves a severe genetic bottleneck, especially when it is the male partner who is newly infected. However, if the male has genital infections with lesions, then the bottleneck is less severe, comparable to that when the female partner is infected. HIV transmission involves both selection and chance. Despite this selection, individual virions differ in their replicative capacities (vRC) and in the epitopes, which may, or may not, be detected by the new host's immune system. How do these factors influence disease progression?