Drug Holiday

Most AIDS patients taking cocktails of antiviral medications pay dearly. Not only do the dozen or so pills they must swallow each day cost a fortune--up to $10,000 a year--but they also cause terrible side effects: nausea, vomiting, fatigue and unsightly fatty deposits in the upper body. So it's not surprising that some patients slip from time to time and take what they call drug holidays.

The problem, of course, is that HIV takes no such breaks. When the pills stop, the virus roars back--except sometimes it doesn't. Last week researchers at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center reported on four...

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