With the improved access to antiretroviral therapy, HIV/AIDS has been transformed from an almost uniformly fatal disease into a manageable chronic condition. In “a joint fight against AIDS to ensure health for all”, PUMCH has worked hard to improve its diagnosis and treatment capabilities, innovate the modes adopted and advance clinical studies, and its relentless journey will never end.

In 1985, Professor Wang Aixia, a well-known infectious disease specialist, reported the first case of AIDS in the Chinese mainland at PUMCH . In 2005, the AIDS branch under the Chineses Society of Infectious Diseases, the Chinese Medical Association was established, and it was chaired by Professor Li Taisheng, Director of the Department of Infectious Diseases, PUMCH. After that, the branch developed China’s first AIDS diagnosis and treatment guidelines and continuously updates it. Since 2009, the AIDS branch has held more than 50 online and offline academic lectures, which makes AIDS diagnosis and treatment much more standardized nationwide.

PUMCH has provided patient-centric services to HIV/AIDS patients through multidisciplinary collaboration, such as femoral head replacement surgery, heart surgery under extracorporeal circulation, abdominal and vascular surgery, and so on. On the basis of these clinical practice, a PUMCH model for HIV/AIDS care has been developed, which has been included into the Chinese AIDS treatment guidelines and promoted nationwide. In response to HIV/AIDS patients’ needs for and difficulties in multidisciplinary consultation, the MDT for intractable HIV-related diseases was launched in June 2022. It aims at providing personalized, multidimensional and one-stop services for HIV/AIDS patients throughout their course of disease. It also holds “PUMCH MDT online ward round discussions” and invites experts nationwide in AIDS prevention and control to share and discuss cases.

The PUMCH team led by Li Taisheng always pursues innovation-driven development and strives to play a pioneering role in the endeavor to tame HIV/AIDS. In 1997, Li Taisheng and his French mentor reported the theory in “Science”, that drug effective antiretroviral therapy can restore the immune system of HIV/AIDS patients, opening the door to hope. In early 1999, Li Taisheng returned to PUMCH from France. He then established the first AIDS clinical research center and research team in China, worked with domestic clinical experts to conduct in-depth research, carried out China’s first multicenter HIV clinical trial, and continuously optimizes Chinese AIDS treatment protocols.

In July 2022, the prospective, multicenter, double-blinded, randomized clinical trial for hydroxylated triptolide conducted by Li Taisheng’s team was unblinded. The preliminary results were very encouraging, signifying another step forward taken by the team on the path of fighting HIV/AIDS with scientific innovation.

Professor Wang Aixia (first from the left) was providing gratuitous care to AIDS patients in rural Henan province

The PUMCH MDT for intractable HIV-related diseases at work

Written by reporter Yan Xiaobo

Photographed by the Department of Infectious Diseases

Translated by Liu Haiyan

Edited by Xie Jing and Wang Yao