[AIDS--from pandemic to manageable disease?]

For several years, AIDS and those affected by this disease do not seem to have attracted much public attention anymore. A reason for this development is the chronicity of the illness, which is especially due to the combination therapy and protease inhibitor, proclaimed by the 1996 Vancouver conference. By Western industrial countries, since Vancouver, AIDS is generally considered a treatable illness, that is still fatal. For those affected by AIDS, this shift has resulted in fundamental different requirements from health services, in particular the medical care institutions. This paper presents a brief overview of the discussion in the literature since Vancouver.