I was diagnosed with HIV Jan 4, 2000 and have been researching to determine how my prognosis will change by starting medication very soon, moderately soon, or waiting perhaps several years when I presume a more effective way to interact with the virus will have been developed.

I recently read on cnn.com (The cure for the common cold

-- and more -- may be closer than you think, Jan 14, 2000)about a new drug (pleconaril) that was designed via computers to model the surface proteins of a class of virus. The knowledge of the surface proteins was used to design complimentary molecules (drugs) that interacted with those surface proteins. It blocks 169 viruses.

Here is a quote from that article:

Dr. Catherine Laughlin, chief of virology at the

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. "It provides a lot of hope for the eventual design of drugs for virtually every viral infection."

Pleconaril is made by ViroPharma Inc.

This drug won't affect HIV but the technology is in the present for this type of development. Are there projects current in the works to develop anti-HIV drugs in a similar fashion ?

The decision to start therapy for HIV infection is a complicated one and based on a number of factors. If you have not seen a physician who specializes in the management of HIV infection, you should do so as soon as possible. The physician will be able to give you an assessment of your prognosis over the next several years once he/she has the results of a number of laboratory tests, most importantly you CD4 cell count and viral load. Then you will be able to judge whether this is an appropriate time to start therapy. There are many research initiatives attempting to identify new viral targets for therapy but they will not be here in time if you need treatment now.

I hope that this has been helpful. Good luck!

KES