Medicine: Gloom in the Palais Des Congres

An AIDS conference offers little hope for a cure

When the first international conference on AIDS met in Atlanta 14 months ago, an air of optimism prevailed. In a remarkably short time, scientists had not only identified the virus responsible for the disease but devised a blood test that could determine if a person had ever been infected. Would a vaccine come next? The atmosphere at the second annual AIDS congress, held last week at the cavernous Palais des Congres in Paris, was considerably more subdued. Although the world's leading AIDS experts were among the more than 2,500 doctors and scientists in attendance, they bore few encouraging tidings. Speaker after...

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