Research Initiative Treatment Action (RITA!); Vol 6, No. 1 March 2000
Thomas Gegeny, MS, ELS
Dear Reader,
Where do you want to go today? Specifically, what treatment options are out there for you, your clients, or your patients? Most regimens have side effects that, for some, outweigh the benefits. For many people with HIV/AIDS, there is no choice: they must take whatever works. For others, the big decision is how to minimize any potential side effects. HIV/AIDS therapy is complex. The treatments themselves are imperfect, our knowledge incomplete. This issue's drug reference section is merely a starting point; at the other end of the spectrum, the news briefs section provides the latest information from the treatment research front.
This is the 5th anniversary of RITA! and my first turn as editor at The Center for AIDS. Although RITA! has reported advances in research and treatment for 5 years, the epidemic is 2 decades old. I remember when I first heard about AIDS (although it was not called that yet). I was 8 years old and the television news coverage scared me to death. I actually cried. The words "gay," "straight," and "sex" meant little to me then.
AIDS has become a part of life, a chilling reminder of human suffering. The entire decade of the eighties was marred by ignorance, prejudice, fear and mistrust. The battles fought then were hard: from the recognition of AIDS as a nondiscriminating public health crisis to the development of treatment that proved, at best, mediocre against one of the most evolutionarily "clever" viruses to ever ravage humankind.
So here we are at the dawn of a millennium. Our progress in characterizing the virus, learning its course of infection, identifying its vulnerable points and planning effective treatment is unprecedented for a disease with such a short recorded history. Yet, in the context of this disease, the ultimate challenge is still unmet. Recent statistics estimate that at least 200,000 people in the US are infected with HIV but undiagnosed. The likelihood is that this alarming number is much greater. Bringing them to the clinic door is only the first step, and yet we are failing to accomplish even that.
Working at The CFA is a welcomed challenge—HIV/AIDS is an arena that I am committed to personally, as well as professionally. Three months have passed since I joined The Center for AIDS. In that time, we have debuted a reorganized website (centerforaids.org) and a completely new online version of RITA! (centerforaids.org/rita). Look for all future issues to be produced simultaneously in print and online. The online version will sometimes have a few extras, for instance this issue online also contains a 1999 AIDS timeline that was not included in the printed journal because of limited space. In addition, a new feature of our website, CFA Treatment ALERTS!, posts online reports, bulletins and treatment updates as they occur. Please investigate these new developments and look for more to come.
Very truly yours,
The Center for AIDS:
Hope & Remembrance Project
Thomas Gegeny, MS, ELS
Editor
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Copyright © 2000 - 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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