A conversation with Philip Goulder about the recent article ‘Sustained aviremia despite anti-retroviral therapy non-adherence in male children after in utero HIV transmission’. In this episode of To Immunity and Beyond, we discuss a prospective study of 284 children from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, who were treated very early with antiretroviral therapy (ART) after mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Unexpectedly, female fetuses were more susceptible to in utero transmission, but of 5 children identified who maintained undetectable levels of HIV despite unscheduled ART interruption, all were males. Distinct viruses were transmitted to males and females - females but not males being susceptible to type I interferon-resistant, low fitness viruses. These findings indicate the central role that early life innate immune sex differences play in HIV cure/remission in children.
Full article: Bengu, N., Cromhout, G., Adland, E. et al. Sustained aviremia despite anti-retroviral therapy non-adherence in male children after in utero HIV transmission. Nat Med 30, 2796–2804 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-03105-4 Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/
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A conversation with Philip Goulder about the recent article ‘Sustained aviremia despite anti-retroviral therapy non-adherence in male children after in utero HIV transmission’. In this episode of To Immunity and Beyond, we discuss a prospective study of 284 children from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, who were treated very early with antiretroviral therapy (ART) after mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Unexpectedly, female fetuses were more susceptible to in utero transmission, but of 5 children identified who maintained undetectable levels of HIV despite unscheduled ART interruption, all were males. Distinct viruses were transmitted to males and females - females but not males being susceptible to type I interferon-resistant, low fitness viruses. These findings indicate the central role that early life innate immune sex differences play in HIV cure/remission in children.
Full article: Bengu, N., Cromhout, G., Adland, E. et al. Sustained aviremia despite anti-retroviral therapy non-adherence in male children after in utero HIV transmission. Nat Med 30, 2796–2804 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-03105-4 Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/
Ebola virus persistence: implications for human-to-human transmission and new outbreaks
To Immunity and Beyond
22 minutes
3 months ago
Ebola virus persistence: implications for human-to-human transmission and new outbreaks
A conversation with Miles Carroll and Oliver Meek about their recent Ebola virus persistence review article. In this episode, Oliver Meek and Miles Carroll discuss their recent review on Ebola virus (EBOV) persistence, set against the broader context of the West African epidemic. They share insights into how viral reservoirs form in immune-privileged sites and the immunological signatures linked to resistance. The conversation explores the implications of these findings on sexual transmission of EBOV, therapeutic development and strategies to prevent viral persistence and recrudescence. They also consider how these mechanisms may inform approaches to other emerging infectious diseases.
Full article: Meek O, Fornace K, Carroll MW. Ebola virus persistence: implications for human-to-human transmission and new outbreaks. Explor Med. 2025;6:1001333. https://doi.org/10.37349/emed.2025.1001333
Further reading:
Züst R, et al. Presence and Persistence of Andes Virus RNA in Human Semen. Viruses. 2023 Nov 17;15(11):2266. https://doi.org/10.3390/v15112266
To Immunity and Beyond
A conversation with Philip Goulder about the recent article ‘Sustained aviremia despite anti-retroviral therapy non-adherence in male children after in utero HIV transmission’. In this episode of To Immunity and Beyond, we discuss a prospective study of 284 children from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, who were treated very early with antiretroviral therapy (ART) after mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Unexpectedly, female fetuses were more susceptible to in utero transmission, but of 5 children identified who maintained undetectable levels of HIV despite unscheduled ART interruption, all were males. Distinct viruses were transmitted to males and females - females but not males being susceptible to type I interferon-resistant, low fitness viruses. These findings indicate the central role that early life innate immune sex differences play in HIV cure/remission in children.
Full article: Bengu, N., Cromhout, G., Adland, E. et al. Sustained aviremia despite anti-retroviral therapy non-adherence in male children after in utero HIV transmission. Nat Med 30, 2796–2804 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-03105-4 Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/
