Dr. Anthony S. Fauci: Progress has been made in the fight against HIV/AIDS, but "our work is just beginning."


Editor's note: Dr. Anthony S. Fauci is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health.

 When we commemorated the first World AIDS Day on December 1, 1988, we had little to celebrate.

The number of reported AIDS cases in the United States was nearing 80,000 and rising rapidly. Untold thousands more in this country were living with the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV. Globally, AIDS cases already had been reported from more than 135 countries. An AIDS tsunami clearly was looming, but we had few defenses at our disposal.

For those of us caring for people with AIDS, it was a dark time. We had just one anti-HIV medicine in our pharmacies, AZT, a drug that the virus rapidly defeated by mutating and developing resistance. Lacking other medicines to slow the relentless replication of HIV and its destruction of a person's immune system, we did our best to help our patients by managing to the extent possible their AIDS-related infections and complications. But the life span of most of the patients was measured in months.

Two decades later, much has changed. An unprecedented research effort has led to more than two dozen anti-HIV drugs, more than for all other viral diseases combined. Taken in pro ... Читать дальше »

KENNESAW, Georgia. The sweet smell of sugar cookies baking filled the air in Kris Shock's kitchen.

She pulled a tray from the oven and sat down with her 9-year-old son, Drew, to frost the treats.

Then, Shock did something that might have been unthinkable for her a few years ago. She took a bite of a cookie.

Shock, 36, of Kennesaw, Georgia, spent most of her adolescence and early adulthood struggling with bulimia and an addiction to diet pills.

Long holiday seasons were always the worst, Shock said, as she dealt with the stress of trying to create a picture-perfect Thanksgiving and Christmas for her family.

"I would be emotionally and physically exhausted come the New Year, and I would have no memories to show for it other than sheer anxiety," Shock recalled. "I would be acting out at every moment, whether that was using diet pills, taking laxatives or restrictive behavior, whatever I used to cope at that moment."

Now in recovery, Shock approaches the holidays and all that tempting food with a bit of trepidation.

"I always keep in mind that relapse is potentially possible if I don't do the right things," Shock said. "For me, that is being honest with myself, knowing that tomorrow I may have to pick up the phone and call a nutritionist ... or call my therapist."

That's just what some experts recommend, including Cynthia Bulik, director of the Un ... Читать дальше »

After the fire, all that was left of Jonathan Reyes' massive Hot Wheels collection was a piece of metal that once was part of a toy car.ut on Wednesday, the arrival of two cardboard boxes at his grandparents' house sent 7-year-old Jonathan flying to the door, said his mother, Jan Reyes.

Mattel, the company that makes Hot Wheels, sent racetracks, play sets, stickers, folders, T-shirts, hats and hundreds of toy cars.

"He was speechless," Reyes said. "He didn't say anything. He just smiled. He opened it up. It was like Christmas. All of us were bawling, crying. He was so happy."

Jonathan, who has autism, meticulously collected more than 500 Hot Wheels. But all that was destroyed when his Sylmar home, along with hundreds of other structures, were burned down by wildfires in Los Angeles County.

Toys are like anchors for children with autism, psychologists say. They like to play with the same toys, eat familiar foods and be in a consistent environment. When faced with unpredictable changes, they can feel frustrated or anxious and become disruptive, according to experts.

On Tuesday, Jonathan and his parents searched for his toys among piles of debris, but they found only a piece of a Hot Wheels car and a rusty tricycle. The rest of Jonathan's toys were reduced to ashes. ... Читать дальше »

PHOENIX, Arizona  Two years ago, Karen Daniel was wider around than she was tall.

Weighing 375 pounds, the 45-year-old wife and mother had high blood pressure; her knees hurt and she was always hot. She felt fatigued and could barely breathe at the slightest exertion. Even the simplest things became a chore -- tying her shoes, crossing her legs, getting in and out of the car or trying to fit into a chair with arms.

"I wasn't living ... I was just existing," recalled Daniel.

She hadn't always struggled with her weight. Daniel said she started gaining weight at age 18 after moving out of her parents' home to live on her own. By the time she married her husband, Paul, at age 22, she weighed 225 pounds.

"Whenever something happened, I used food," said Daniel. "It was like my drug of choice was food. I never did drugs or alcohol. I was addicted to food."

Seven months after her wedding and another 50 pounds later, Daniel became pregnant with her first child. Instead of gaining weight during the pregnancy, she lost 75 pounds after a doctor warned her not to use it as an excuse to eat. But after her daughter Sarah was born, Daniel gained back all the weight she'd lost and then some.en years later, she weighed 300 pounds and became pregnant with their second child, McKenna. Again, she lost weight during the pregn ... Читать дальше »