A report from the XVIII International AIDS Conference. (July 18-23, 2010-Vienna, Austria).

Political and social issues have a major impact on how and when HIV infection and AIDS are treated, and were a major component of the meeting in Vienna. Many discussions were held on aspects such as epidemiology, risk behavior, public health, human rights, political responses to the epidemics challenge, social stigma and discrimination, use of and recommendations on the use of condoms and other preventive measures... However, the availability of drugs and/or other therapies is a crucial issue, and while it was not the main focus of attention during this year's international AIDS conference, it will be the focus of the following report. Indeed, intensive research for new antiretrovirals continues, with new active compounds presented during the poster sessions at the Wien Messe convention center, but a wide armamentarium is currently already available, including late-generation agents such as darunavir, etravirine, raltegravir and maraviroc that provide reliable effectiveness as rescue therapy for patients failing older drug-containing highly active regimens (Azkune Galparsoro, H. et al., Abst THPE0141). All information across the meeting related to therapies for HIV infection are briefly reviewed in the following report, which complements and guides through the extensive information available on the organizing society's website.