Real breakthroughs in AIDS research have been painfully few, but at least 1995 saw a handful of provocative research reports. The biggest came in January, when two groups found that the AIDS virus reproduces--and is cleared from the body--at much higher rates than previously suspected. It had been thought that HIV turns virulent only in the late stages of infection, but apparently the virus works its devastation through rapid and prolonged replication. Over the course of a decade-long infection, millions of viral variants are spawned, ultimately infecting immune cells faster than the body can replace them.
But if the immune system is strong enough to keep pace with the virus throughout the first years of infection, why can’t it do so permanently? Apparently it can--if it’s given enough warning. A report published in June showed that infection with a milder strain of the virus-- called HIV-2--sometimes protects people against infection ...
