CLINICAL ASPECTS OF HIV-INFECTION AND AIDS - PREVENTION AND TREATMENTOF OPPORTUNISTIC INFECTIONS

Attesting to the continuing need for newer, more efficacious and less toxic therapies, this year's medical literature is replete with report s describing advances in the treatment and prophylaxis of the serious opportunistic infections associated with AIDS. Patients at risk for th ese infections, generally considered to be those individuals with fewe r than 200 CD4+ lymphocytes per mu l, are increasing in number as a di rect consequence of survival benefits attributed to antiretroviral the rapy and improved treatment and prophylaxis of the major opportunistic infections and cancers. In spite of continued and notable improvement s in this area, options for many patients remain severely limited by t herapies characterized by suboptimal efficacy and/or intolerable adver se consequences.