Tremendous progress has been made in the treatment ofHIV/AIDS since the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported the first casesof gay men becoming sick in 1981. What was considered a death sentence for the first15 years of the epidemic began to be seen as a chronic and manageable diseasewith the introduction of a new class of drugs in 1996. The pills, calledprotease inhibitors, made it possible to talk about people living with HIV/AIDS, rather than dying from it. Fortunately, forsome individuals, HIV/AIDS is a manageable disease today. That is not the case,however, for everyone, and it's certainly not the case for the majority ofpeople in the world who are infected with HIV. New reports and studies indicatethat HIV/AIDS may be less manageable closer to home as well. The numbers alone show that HIV/AIDS on the world stage isfar from manageable. More than 25 million people are dead from the disease and33.4 million are infected. Less than half of the people who should be on thelife-sustaining medications have access to them. Although the cost of the drugshave decreased dramatically in recent years, the World Health Organizationestimates that the annual treatment costs in poor countries is still $800 –more than double the average annual income in some of these nations. Althoughnearly eliminated in the developed world, UNAIDS does not expect to end motherto child transmission of HIV globally until 2015 – nearly 35 years after theCDC first reported on this disease. The drug cocktails that have extended life expectancies andimproved the quality of life for many living with HIV/AIDS (especially in thedeveloped world) does not necessarily mean the disease is manageable foreveryone fortunate enough to receive treatment. A recent article in New York Magazine details the findingsof a "large-scale multi-city study" which indicates that some people with HIVare aging much faster than should chronologically be the case. More than halfof the HIV-positive individuals in the study showed signs of cognitiveimpairment. Other symptoms, usually associated with the elderly that areaffecting people with HIV/AIDS, include arthritis, bone loss and organ failure.The perception that HIV is a disease that is easily maintained with a dailypill is, for many receiving treatment, a grossly inaccurate portrayal of what"living with HIV/AIDS" is really like. Then there are the latest statistics coming out of theMinnesota Department of Health which suggest that the state may see the highestincrease of new diagnoses of HIV since 1992. If the numbers continue to trendupwards for the remaining weeks of the year, Minnesotacould see a 25 percent increase in diagnoses of HIV. The trend of young people,primarily gay and bisexual men between the ages of 15 – 24, who are testingpositive is especially disturbing as they were all born after the emergence ofHIV/AIDS – long after we knew how to safely prevent the transmission of thedisease. Increasing rates of new infections in Minnesota,additional complications for people on HIV/AIDS medications, and millions ofpeople worldwide who are still waiting for treatment are all indicators of apandemic that is not yet manageable. As the AIDS bracelet suggests, "UntilThere's A Cure," the work must continue.