A somber anniversary

I don't remember a world without AIDS.

I was 4 years old when the first cases were reported. The disease, and the unknown, terrorized people and stigmatized the afflicted.

Twenty five years later, we know a lot more about how the disease is spread. And although we don't have a cure, scientists are pushing to develop ways to help those suffering. Nuran Ercal is one of those scientists. Working with William Banks, professor of geriatric medicine at Saint Louis University, Ercal has found that a newly redesigned antioxidant may play a critical role in preventing HIV-1-associated dementia, a condition that a third of the adults and half of the children with AIDS develop.

Their research will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Experimental Neurology.

Now if only the golden anniversary could bring with it a cure.