AIDS Pathogenesis: A Finite Immune Response to Blame?

Abstract
Some rare individuals infected with the HIV virus do not develop AIDS, and their immune systems remain healthy indefinitely. In a report in this issue of Science, Wolinsky et al. describe several indices of immune system function in six of these long-term survivors. In their Perspective, Miedema and Klein discuss what these exceptional cases reveal about the more usual course of events for infected individuals—collapse of the immune system and development of AIDS.