Antiretroviral therapy: rehashes, leftovers, and a pinch of new data.

The 38th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) presented a number of updates and important highlights. The target cell availability hypothesis was one of the most provocative subjects discussed, with some trial results implying that early therapy, initiated when the target cells are plentiful, could increase the probability of drug failure. Other studies supported deferral of therapy for chronically infected individuals, citing the issues of adherence and drug resistance as reasons for delaying the start of aggressive treatment. Presentations also addressed current drug studies, protease inhibitor dosing, and salvage therapies.