August 11, 2000

Researchers Seek a Breakthrough From Study of Prostitutes Who Are Immune to HIV

By BURTON BOLLAG

Agnes Munyiva lives in a windowless room next to a stinking, garbage-strewn creek in the sprawling Pumwani slum here in the Kenyan capital. Although she is a grandmother, poverty compels her to continue working as a prostitute, receiving clients at her home for the equivalent of 65 cents a trick.

Ms. Munyiva is special because she is alive. Over the past two decades she has watched most of her colleagues die of AIDS. Yet she appears immune to the virus that causes the disease. "God

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