Toward rational nutritional support of the human immunodeficiency virus-infected patient

The acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and (human immunodeficiency virus) infection loom as our major public health priorities for at least the next two decades. Despite the recent exciting early development of vaccines and newer drug therapies, we are all faced with a reservoir of almost one-quarter million cases in the United States and several times that worldwide. Since the vast majority of HIV-infected patients develop AIDS, which is a chronic progressive disease that produces gastrointestinal dysfunction and wasting, development of rational strategies for nutritional support of these patients should also be a high priority.