| Abstract:In the relatively few years since the first acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) case was reported in 1981, the epidemic has evolved rapidly and has had a profound and widespread impact on our society. Its effects are especially tragic, because AIDS is primarily a disease of the young (i.e., young adults and children born to infected mothers). A remarkable amount of information is now available about the responsible virus (the human immunodeficiency virus-Type 1, or HIV-1), yet there still is no cure in sight, nor any effective means of retarding disease progression more than temporarily. As a consequence, in the absence of a major breakthrough in research on medical interventions, most (if not all) infected individuals eventually will face a course of increasing disability and a fatal outcome. |