This week: Will Optimism Hinder the Fight Against AIDS?

Earlier this year, Andrew Sullivan stepped down as editor of The New Republic, announcing that he is HIV-positive. This week in The New York Times Magazine, Sullivan chronicles his struggle (and the struggle within the HIV-positive community at large) to live a normal life. According to Sullivan, this struggle is no longer about facing death, it is about facing life.

In March, Sullivan added protease inhibitors -- the latest drug in the fight against AIDS -- to his daily combination of drugs. He now has an undetectable level of the virus in his blood.

But protease inhibitors are not a cure for AIDS. People continue to contract HIV daily, and sex is not yet safe. Are protease inhibitors a risk as well as a relief? Will this affect AIDS funding or the public's perception of AIDS? Will people become less careful? And what about the gay community, bound so tightly by the prospect of death -- if death is not quite so close at hand, what will bind them now?

Here's what Tripod members had to say:

Spiffy_the_Death_Cat: From a heterosexual perspective, AIDS is still terrifying with or without suppressants. I hope that this discovery will increase funding for AIDS research, although I doubt that it will affect the way people act, as most unsafe practices tend to be spur of the moment types of things.

morello: I really hope protease inhibitors are not going to relax our fight against AIDS. As a sexually-active individual, I take all the care on my life to prevent catching the illness, and I won't step down it just because there's a new drug. Even if there was a real way out for AIDS, a real cure, we must bear in mind that those things like AIDS coud have been stopped before if we had taken just a bit of care.

endy: There is nothing that can save you from the disaster of AIDS. People keep inviting it!!! Why not ignore it? If this happens, lots of humans ruin their own lives for something that didn't pay you back but takes your life away from your friend, lover and family. Do you want to invite the Death coming to you ? I won't do that.

loujon69: HIV/AIDS funding per death is already far higher than funding for cancer (2nd highest) and the leading cause of death which is heart attacks. And this is government funding.

Ngupta: I believe that optimism is warranted due to the fact that over 20 percent of Europeans have the mutation that makes their cells immune to the onslaught of HIV and that a great percenage of people are resistant to HIV. 20 percent is more command than red hair. I suggest that anyone interested in finding out more read Science News or a book on virology.

Tameco: I don't think that protease inhibitors are going to hinder the fight on AIDS. They are not a cure. Until a cure is found I believe that the funding will continue. I believe there will always be a few number of people who will continue to be careless.

Stonewall: I hope that we never become complacent about ANY disease that threatens humankind until we find a cure or vaccine to counteract the effects. I do not think that the discovery of protease inhibitors or other drugs that seem to help the pain or curb the effects of AIDS will make us relax, although I hope that we can take a pause of thanks. These discoveries only help to push us onward to find the antidote to the terror which is HIV.

vinniea: I thought Sullivan's article was great, and I don't want to sound like one of the pessimists he talked about...but I don't want to create a false sense of optimism. Many people don't have the access to drugs like Sullivan, many people aren't having the same success with the drugs as Sullivan...and most importantly, I don't want AIDS to fall off of the national agenda because some Congressman from the Midwest pronounces the plague over! There is still much to be done, and even if AIDS as we know it is over, there is still considerable work to be done managing it as a chronic disease, and cleaning up the mess that has been created in the first 16 years of the epidemic. So, I am glad Sullivan wrote that piece, but I worry too much about putting the cart before the horse.