1 July 2016 VOLUME 17 ISSUE 26

“There is no doubt 90-90-90 will improve outcomes worldwide in a short space of time,” says Dr. Linda-Gail Bekker, president-elect of the International AIDS Society.... “We have closed down epidemics in various parts of the world. We have to tick off the boxes – ‘done, done, done’.” Though firmly behind the initiative, Bekker cautions that care be taken not to “send the message that we can simply treat our way out of global epidemics.

Mouse studies have shown that small doses of [efavirenz], an [approved] HIV drug, boost the brain’s ability to clear cholesterol. Now, a Case Western Reserve University team has identified how the drug works, suggesting it could be effective in delaying or preventing Alzheimer’s disease in humans.

Two Zika vaccine candidates have shown promising results in pre-clinical trials, scientists have announced. A single shot of either vaccines appeared effective in protecting mice from an infection, in the weeks that followed immunisation.

South Africa could eventually become the first country on the continent to take the sex industry mainstream.... Among female prostitutes 25 and older, as many as four in five are HIV-positive....The South African National AIDS Council is implementing a three-year plan to treat and prevent HIV in about 70,000 prostitutes. South Africa will be one of the first countries in the world to offer sex workers an HIV prevention drug called PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis.

For decades HIV-positive patients were barred from organ donation, but recent policy changes have seen that federal ban reversed. Now surgeons at transplant centers that meet specific requirements including involvement in clinical research can implant organs from HIV-positive patients. The NIH is planning a new study in collaboration with leading transplant centers...with the aim of ultimately standardizing a single protocol and expanding the use of such procedures nationwide.

UK researchers and their organizations have reacted with dismay to last night’s decision...to leave the EU....Numerous scientists and research organizations [had] urged voters to preserve the UK's EU membership....Europe’s Horizon 2020 research program plays an important role in fostering cross-border collaboration and boosting research in scientifically less well-developed countries. The EU also...regulates the pharmaceutical industry and clinical trials.

A decade ago, medical research celebrated introduction of the first vaccine proven to protect people from an identified cancer-causing agent. Studies over subsequent years affirmed the effectiveness and safety of the HPV vaccine and its potential to spare thousands from horrible cancers. Yet, inexcusably, pediatricians and family doctors remain reluctant to recommend the vaccine. A new campaign targeting these doctors aims to boost use of this lifesaving vaccine.

To address implementation challenges associated with PMTCT interventions and support progress toward “virtual elimination” of pediatric HIV, we formed the NIH-PEPFAR Implementation Science Alliance....The articles in this Special Issue report on the collective learning of the Alliance and important results from implementation science studies—information that will move us closer to eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV in areas with the highest burden.

[We tested] the impact of a low DMPA dose, designed to resemble human contraceptive use, on Simian-Human Immunodeficiency Virus (SHIV) acquisition risk in pigtail macaques....The result [was] remarkably similar to studies of human DMPA use, which have shown HIV risk increases of a similar magnitude and of variable significance. Taken together with previous studies of higher DMPA doses in macaques, the results suggest a dose-dependent effect of DMPA on Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) or SHIV acquisition.

James Wilsdon, a science-policy researcher at the University of Sheffield, UK, says that beyond the questions about continued access to EU funding and policy, there is a more fundamental issue that UK researchers must come to grips with: the fact that most academic experts, research lobby groups and other experts came out in favour of staying in the EU and were ignored by the public.

The infant cross-clade bnAb targets the N332 supersite on envelope but, unlike adult bnAbs targeting this site, lacks indels and has low somatic hypermutation [SHM]. The identification of this infant bnAb illustrates that HIV-1-specific neutralization breadth can develop without prolonged affinity maturation and extensive SHM.

Although too soon to speculate about the identity of WHO’s next Director-General, it is worth reflecting on what qualities an incoming leader should bring to WHO and how that person might need to conceive changes in the structure and behavior of the organization against a landscape of important and evolving threats to the health of the fast-growing global population.

There are errors in the Funding section. The correct information follows: This project was supported by PEPFAR and the NIH Office of AIDS Research, through NIH Grant Number U01 AI100015 to author SR at Boston University, from NIAID. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of NIAID. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or manuscript preparation.