For the past three years, a family of new drugs has brought fresh optimism to people who are HIV-positive. Called protease inhibitors, they have dramatically reduced death rates from AIDS, emptied hospital wards and allowed people with the virus to go back to work. But while their early success is unquestioned, it is becoming tarnished by charges that the drugs have very serious side effects. Internet discussion groups and newsletters about HIV are full of complaints from people who claim that protease inhibitors are changing the shapes of their bodies and even putting them at risk of heart attacks.
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