Research Initiative Treatment Action (RITA!); Vol 5, No. 1 January 1999
L. Joel Martinez

Dear Readers,

The extraordinary pace at which HIV/AIDS treatment and research evolve makes it a daunting field with which to keep pace. Just as we are getting comfortable with a theory of how the virus causes disease, another researcher presents a case for a different mechanism. The names of drugs have become so many and sometimes so similar that we must be careful to not confuse nevirapine with nelfinavir or forget that Rescriptor is the tradename of delavirdine.

We must strive to be exacting in our pursuit of knowledge, establishing order into what easily could become chaos. With that in mind we are printing our first timeline of HIV/AIDS events. The 1998 timeline appearing on these pages was collated from an original 78 page long document. Many things happened in 1998. Some will be judged significant with time; others will fall by the way side and be quickly forgotten. Nonetheless, this enumeration of events is a startling reminder of the constant change of HIV/AIDS medicine, science and research.

As if to drive the point of constant change even harder, while we were completing review of an article on mother to child transmission The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) suddenly and unexpectedly issued on the Internet another more current article on the same topic. STOP THE PRESSES! The data on elective cesarean sections and vertical transmission is so new that it will not be published until April. A summary of the NEJM article is provided in this issue.

We have added a section to RITA! for the discussion of controversial subjects. In this issue our Sound and Fury section contains opposing views on the utility and efficacy of the AIDS/VAX vaccine. This gp120 vaccine has caused a stir with both sides having strong arguments regarding the legitimacy and efficacy of the trials. For persons interested in participating we have included contact information for the local site at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Please read both articles before making your decision.

Finally, we point you towards our back cover and the announcement that The Center for AIDS has been selected to receive the Community Organization Award given by the organizers of the Eleventh Annual Houston Conference on AIDS in America. We are proud of this recognition, but are prouder still of the fact that we were able to help organize this year's program and panel. It is one of the finest panels of HIV/AIDS experts to be assembled in Houston. This is our chance to show the entire nation that our commitment to knowledge and progress is in earnest.

We hope you enjoy reading this newsletter and that you benefit from the information it contains. We welcome your comments and criticism.

Very truly yours,

The Center for AIDS:
Hope & Remembrance Project
L. Joel Martinez
Acting Editor

19990110
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Copyright © 1999 - Research Initiative Treatment Action (RITA!). Reproduced with permission. RITA! is published by The Center for AIDS. Contact Thomas Gegeny, MS, ELS, Editor, RITA! for permission to reproduce RITA!. tom@centerforaids.org. http://www.centerforaids.org

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