Julià Blanco

The risk of HIV transmission through breastfeeding is very low, but it is not non-existent in women living with HIV who have undetectable levels in their blood. Now, for the first time, a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine has been able to test for HIV in the milk of two such women: one elite controller (who maintains low viral loads without antiretrovirals) and another who had been on treatment for years. Although small amounts of viral DNA were found, the virus was not infectious. The results show that such testing is possible and help confirm the very low risk of transmission.

The Science group is simultaneously publishing four papers (two in the journal Science, one in Science Immunology and one in Science Translational Medicine) that include advances in a sequential vaccination strategy for an effective HIV vaccine. The methods employed aim to obtain broad-spectrum neutralising antibodies and one of the proposals is already in clinical trials.