AIDS CONFERENCE

This week's Eighth International Conference on AIDS, the largest ever, brought together an array of medical research talent - as well as former prostitutes, ex-drug addicts, and homosexuals, groups considered high-risk for contracting the HIV virus linked to AIDS.

With 80 percent of all new AIDS cases emerging in the third world, the corridor throngs include African, Asian, and South American health-care professionals. At least 133 nations are represented.

For the first time in the eight-year history of the conference, activists have been involved in setting the agenda and have been given a platform to voice their frustrations with governments and the pricing and distribution policies of drug manufacturers.