Tempering AIDS Optimism

For a while in the mid-90's, around the time I was in middle school, incurable diseases were the subject of some great media attention, notably in HBO's brilliant And the Band Played On and the Dustin Hoffman-Renee Russo Outbreak. I was obsessed with these stories at the time.

Today, I read this piece from CNN, alluding to something I never knew before:

1% of the Caucasian population evidently carries at least one version of a genetic mutation that prevents HIV from penetrating our cells. (The article isn't clear if 1% carries at least one version or if they carry both versions.)

This man's example does not seem to be an AIDS cure, but with advances on AIDS research being not exactly front-cover news recently, it's good to know work is still progressing, and there are leads.