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About IRA |
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The International Retrovirology Association (IRA)
The purpose of the IRA is to promote research and education in
the field of human retrovirology at the international level, including
scientific conferences, interdisciplinary research collaborations,
and educational exchanges related to the study of human T-cell
lymphotropic viruses and related human viruses. |
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About the Conference |
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The International Conference on Human Retrovirology: HTLV
is a biennial conference that fulfills the continuing scientific
need for the exchange of research findings and stimulation
of new research directions.
 The molecular biology research of HTLV-1 and -2 continues to
grapple with the problem of leukemogenesis by HTLV-I, due either
to transactivation mediated by the viral tax gene, or to other
factors mediating the conversion of HTLV-I from polyclonal to
monoclonal lymphocytic integration. Since ATL appears to develop
through the multi-step leukemogenesis, genetic changes involved
in this process remain to be elucidated.
Research into the pathogenesis of HTLV-associated myelopathy,
presumably via aberrant immunologic responses to HTLV-1 or -2
in infected humans with particular HLA genotypes, is important
in understanding this disease and possibly also other neuro-immunologic
diseases such as multiple sclerosis.
Although the basic epidemiology of HTLV-1 and -2 has been
reasonably well defined, there are important public health issues
to be addressed by epidemiologic research, including patterns of
emergence into new host populations; the prevention of maternal to
child infection; better confirmatory test strategies for blood donor
screening; and the prevention of HTLV-2 infection among injection
drug users (IDU). Co-infection with both HIV and either HTLV-2 or
HTLV-1 is common among IDU in US cities and in some HTLV-1 endemic
areas such as Brasil, and the clinical implications of co-infection
are not well defined.
Finally, ongoing clinical research is needed into potential HTLV-1
and -2 vaccines, and treatments for ATL and HAM. The biennial HTLV
conference serves as an important stimulus to all of these research
areas. |
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History of Past Conferences |
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The HTLV conferences were initiated in 1988 to
address a perceived need among the international community of HTLV
researchers. The concept of a virus-specific meeting was meant
to address a perceived lack of attention to HTLV in other infectious
disease or HIV-related meetings. In addition, since the HTLV community
was relatively small, the original organizers had the prescient
idea of including virologists, immunologists, epidemiologists and
clinicians in the same conference to spur cross-disciplinary approaches
to scientific questions. Over the years, the meeting has been the
catalyst for a number of collaborations involving scientists from
several disciplines and nationalities. It has also remained focused
on issues of patient care, counseling and public health because
of its frequent choice of venues in areas endemic for HTLV-I or
with substantial HTLV-II foci.
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History of Attendance at The HTLV Conferences |
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Month/Year |
Venue |
Host |
Attendance |
| 1 |
Feb/1988 |
Honolulu, Hawaii, USA |
Dr. Diwan, Univ Hawaii |
100 |
| 2 |
Mar/1989 |
Port of Spain, Trinidad |
Prof. Bartholomew, Univ West Indies |
114 |
| 3 |
Feb/1990 |
Maui, Hawaii, USA |
Dr. Diwan, Univ Hawaii |
175 |
| 4 |
Feb/1991 |
Montego Bay, Jamaica |
Prof. Hanchard,Univ West Indies |
229 |
| 5 |
May/1992 |
Kumamoto, Japan |
Prof Takatsuki, Kumamoto Univ |
300 |
| 6 |
May/1994* |
Absecon, New Jersey, USA |
Dr. Stanley Weiss, UMDNJ |
375 |
| 7 |
Oct/1995 |
Paris, France |
Drs. DeThe & Gessain,Institut Pasteur |
320 |
| 8 |
Jun/1997 |
Rio de Janeiro |
Dr. Pombo de Oliveira, Instituto Nacional
de Cancer |
344 |
| 9 |
Apr/1999 |
Kagoshima, Japan |
Profs Osame and Sonoda, Kagoshima Univ |
366 |
| 10 |
Jun/2001 |
Dublin, Ireland |
Prof. Hall, Univ College Dublin |
330 |
| 11 |
Jun/2003 |
San Francisco, California |
Prof. Murphy, Univ of Calif, San Francisco |
275 |
| 12 |
Jun/2005 |
Montego Bay, Jamaica |
Drs. Jacobson and Franchini (NIH, USA),
Profs. Hanchard and Morgan (University of the West Indies) |
281 |
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* The International Retrovirology Association was founded at this meeting.
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