In 2020, the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) was the first scientific conference to move from in-person to virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On the fifth anniversary of the virtual conference, and the pandemic, some of those earliest COVID-19 patients have still not recovered.

Although safe and effective vaccines for SARS-CoV-2 have been successfully developed, there are currently no therapeutic approaches available for treating acute infection, particularly for individuals at high risk of severe disease progression, and for preparedness against a potential new coronavirus pandemic.

The availability of effective antiretroviral therapy has lowered the risk, and the severity, of neural sequelae of HIV infection. “Early in the HIV pandemic, approximately 15% of people with HIV had dementia and or encephalitis,” Howard Fox told his audience. “Fortunately, with treatment, the prevalence of these severe disorders has been greatly lowered. But there is persistence of what are called more minor disorders – which are not minor if you have them.”