However, just as some scientists predicted, the good news has turned out to be short-lived; patients are again losing ground in about half the cases involving such treatments.

The treatments utilizing three powerful drug combinations initially revolutionized AIDS care and enabled some patients to resume normal lives. For many, virus levels dropped so low that they could not be detected through standard testing.

But now, according to a recent study, after several years' improvement in patients the virus has apparently grown resistant to the drugs and has resurfaced in just over half such patients. Scientists are unsure what this means for the patients' prospects for longterm survival.

Meanwhile, researchers conducting several other studies making use of the best available AIDS treatments have concluded that, in spite of their best efforts, medical science cannot entirely eliminate the virus from those infected.

Further complicating treatment is the cost of the drug therapy-some $15,000 per patient per year-and that the treatment is ineffective in about one in three AIDS patients. (Source: The Associated Press, The Los Angeles Times.)