Aidsmap

Estimated reading time 10 minutes The 26th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2026) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, featured few new scientific breakthroughs in terms of vaccines or cures for HIV. But as well as featuring two more cases of cure following stem-cell transplants, a range of studies were presented that shed new light on how we might achieve a less drastic and more accessible form of cure, or at least enable people not to have to take regular antiretroviral therapy (ART).

Estimated reading time 9 minutes Several studies presented at the 26th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2026) in Rio de Janeiro last month dealt with vaccines designed to counteract a phenomenon that has limited their efficacy in the past – immunodominance. Immunodominance is the immune system's tendency to focus on the most conspicuous parts of a virus. With HIV, those parts act like decoys: they vary freely from one virus to the next, so antibodies against them work on few other strains.

Estimated reading time 4 minutes José Guillen at AIDS 2026. Photo by Roger Pebody. Nearly 7% of a large group of Venezuelan migrants in Colombia tested positive for HIV, according to a presentation by José Guillen from Red Somos at the recent 26th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2026) held in Rio de Janeiro. Most were linked to treatment and were able to achieve viral suppression, despite administrative and legal barriers.

Estimated reading time 6 minutes Dr Akua Gyamerah (left) and Ruth Kikonyogo (right) at AIDS 2026. Photo by Roger Pebody. “The evidence is overwhelming: criminalisation does not prevent HIV – it fuels it,” Immaculate Owomugisha Bazare, Director of the Centre for Women Justice, Uganda, said in a plenary presentation at the 26th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2026) held in Rio de Janeiro recently.

Estimated reading time 4 minutes Florence Bascombe at AIDS 2026. Photo by Roger Pebody. Lean people who are classified as having normal weight according to body mass index (BMI) may still develop fatty liver disease and its complications, and those living with HIV may be at higher risk, according to study findings presented last week at the 26th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2026) in Rio de Janeiro.

Estimated reading time 5 minutes A new class of drugs called CD4 mimetics could be used to sensitise the immune system to HIV, the 26th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2026) in Rio de Janeiro heard last week. It is becoming clear that broadly neutralising antibodies, whether infused as a drug or generated by a vaccine, may not be sufficient to cure HIV, or even to lead to long-term remission off antiretroviral therapy.

Estimated reading time 7 minutes Thiago Jerohan Albuquerque da Cruz at AIDS 2026. Photo by Roger Pebody. At the 26th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2026) held in Rio de Janeiro last week, a special session was devoted to racism as a driver of HIV outcomes. Globally, HIV disproportionately impacts Black, Brown and Indigenous communities, who have inequitable access to prevention and treatment and higher rates of death from AIDS-related complications when compared to White people.

Estimated reading time 5 minutes Soweto. Image by K.G. Schneider. CC BY-NC 2.0. A series of presentations at the 26th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2026) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil had the title 'Chemsex everywhere: Interventions across contexts,' which encapsulated two realities. Firstly, chemsex (sexualised drug use, or sex enhanced by drugs) has become a global phenomenon among gay and bisexual men, transgender women and other gender and sexually diverse people.

Estimated reading time 6 minutes Dr Michael Traeger at AIDS 2026. Photo by Liz Highleyman. Rates of syphilis and chlamydia fell substantially among men who have sex with men after the introduction of doxyPEP guidance in Australia, though there was not a corresponding decline in gonorrhoea, according to a report last week at the 26th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2026) in Rio de Janeiro.

Estimated reading time 6 minutes The 26th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2026) in Rio de Janeiro last week heard about two more cases of HIV remission in people who had received stem cell transplants for leukaemia. These procedures had also cured their HIV, apparently by replacing all the cells in their body capable of producing HIV with non-infected cells. Like most other stem-cell recipients in cure cases, they received cells from donors that happened to lack the CCR5 co-receptor.