steve pieters: dr. levine offered me the opportunity to be patient number one on the very first drug they ever tried against h.i.v., and i was treated with that drug for a total of 39 weeks. well, within six wee, all of my kaposi's sarcoma lesionhadisappeared. and the lymphoma had gone into complete mission. of the 90 patients who received the drug, steve pieters was the only one to experience positive results, along with some unpleasant side effects. it was an extraordinarily toxic drug, and it blew out my adrenal glands. it caused major uromuscular damage, wasting, peripheral neuropathy. it took me about a year to recover from the side effects of the drug. the other patients have all since died from the progression of aids. it was witn e next year the drug azt was introced. and it was a good drug it sti is. thproblem, thoh, is tt wuse e drug to treat the h.i.v. virus, it will absolutely learn how to live with that drug. it becomes resistant to the virus. in a biologic sense, the virus must stay alive.