DEAR MARK, I AM RESISTANT TO NEARLY ALL DRUGS AVAILABLE. DO YOU SEE ANY HOPE FOR ME TO SURVIVE MORE THAN A FEW DECADES STILL? I AM RECENTLY DIAGNOSED WITH EXPOSURE IN JANUARY OF THIS YEAR. VL = 30,000, T-CELLS ARE 600. THINKING OF INTERLEUKIN 2 TO RAISE T-CELLS AND TO ACTIVATE HIV IN LYMPH NODES AND OTHER RESTING AREAS IF I CAN ACHIEVE A LOW OR UNDETECTABLE VL. ANY THOUGHTS OF IL2 OR ANY NEW DRUGS THAT WILL BE AVAILABLE WITHIN A YEAR SO I CAN GET STARTED? CAN YOU GIVE ME A LIST OF DRUGS TO WATCH FOR SO THAT I CAN PATIENTLY WAIT TO GO WITH A COMBO OF NEW DRUGS INSTEAD OF WASTING THEM ONE BY ONE AS SOON AS THEY ARE AVAILABLE. MY DOCTOR IS A PAIN AND DOESN'T GIVE ME ANY ADVICE OR GOOD GAMEPLANS. FROM DESPERATE AND DYING

You might be desperate, but certainly not dying. Your CD4 count is pretty good. IL-2 is a good idea, but only in the presence of a good antiretroviral regimen. Other drugs like second generation protease inhibitors (ABT-378), fusion inhibitors (T-20), metabolic inhibitors (HE2000), gene therapy, to name a few are here. I think you can wait on the sidelines for a bit (given your high CD4 count), or dive into some of the clinical trials with these other agents. MH