High hopes

 

'Hopes high' for HIV conference

This weekend, 24,000 people from around the world will converge on Toronto for the sixteenth International Aids Conference.

Improved medication has revolutionised HIV care

It's the not the first time that delegates have travelled to Canada for the annual meeting.

Ten years ago, they gathered in Vancouver to hear the news so many had been hoping for - effective drugs which could hold HIV at bay were soon to be a reality.

That breakthrough was the discovery of protease inhibitors.

When taken in combinations with other drugs, these drugs meant that the numbers of people who became ill from opportunistic infections, or died from Aids, dropped by about 70%

They are hoping for similar progress from this year's conference.