German contribution to AIDS research
The German medicine professor Jürgen Rockstroh is one of the scientific chairman of the 20th International AIDS Conference.
It is a high-profile event, the International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, Australia. Experts from all over the world will discuss strategies in the fight against the immune deficiency and present the latest research findings. One the three members of conference’s scientific committee this year is a German: Bonn-based Professor Jürgen Rockstroh. He is an internationally recognized expert in the field of viral research and in the fight against viruses. The Rhinelander studied medicine at the University of Bonn, where he was awarded his PhD in 1989. During his subsequent practical career, Jürgen Rockstroh increasingly worked in the field of infectious diseases. In 1995 he took over as head of the HIV Outpatient Clinic of Bonn University Hospital. Since 2011 Rockstroh has also been chair of Germany’s National Advisory Board on AIDS.
Research on HIV and hepatitis
In the scientific field Jürgen Rockstroh devotes himself, inter alia, to the interaction between the HI virus, the immune system, and viral hepatitis pathogens. This research is of great clinical significance. “About 25 per cent of people with HIV also have hepatitis C, and six percent have hepatitis B”, the expert emphasizes. This makes life considerably more difficult for those affected. Although modern, highly active antiretroviral therapies (HAARTs) can be used to strengthen the immune system of HIV patients, these drugs cannot stop the propagation of hepatitis viruses. However, it seems that the improved immune response in HAART-treated patients enables the body to fight the hepatitis pathogens with its own immune system, at least in some cases. These and related topics are to be discussed at length at a specialized congress to be held before the International AIDS Conference, explains Jürgen Rockstroh.
20th International AIDS Conference from 20 – 25 July 2014 in Melbourne
