Washington Post Magazine Examines the Lives of Two People With AIDS 20 Years After the First Reported Cases
In its Sunday cover story, the Washington Post Magazine examines the daily lives of two individuals with AIDS, 20 years after the CDC first reported on the "mysterious, deadly illness." Although "[n]o one knows the life expectancy of people on the current AIDS drug regimens," those who are on highly active antiretroviral therapy are living longer, sometimes "long enough to confront the common ailments of middle age." However, drug-resistant strains of HIV are becoming more common, leaving people with few treatment options and only "about a dozen new drugs" in the research pipeline, most of which are "variations of and improvements on current meds that may be easier to take but don't represent dramatic progress." In addition, the Post says that the "progress in treating AIDS may have ironically blunted progress in that area where there's been very little: prevention." The Post notes that although "AIDS has become part of the contemporary landscape" since the first reports, the disease has also become "less invariably fatal" with the advent of new treatments, and therefore "less visible, less urgent, more private." To read the full report, click here. Today at 1 p.m., the article's author, Post Magazine staff writer Paula Span, will be receiving questions and comments at http://www.washingtonpost.com/liveonline.
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