[Epidemiology of HIV infection]

HIV-infected people are infectious during the 10-20 years' incubation time as well as while suffering from AIDS. The disaster of this lentivirus epidemic is that there is a long time interval between source (virus inoculation) and result (manifestation of AIDS). The registered AIDS cases represent only the tip of a mountain. By now, more than half of a million AIDS cases are reported to the WHO, but the real number is assumed to be double. In Europe about 80,000 AIDS patients are registered. In most of the industrialized countries where now a certain stagnation among the typical risk groups of homosexuals and drug addicts is visible, now one can see a slow, steady increase among the heterosexual population. In Europe at this time 18% of the newly diagnosed AIDS cases are women. The number of HIV-infected persons reflects the number of AIDS patients to be expected for the next years. In Germany 1 per thousand of the population are infected (55,000-90,000 persons), in Switzerland 2-4 per thousand (20,000-30,000 persons). Worldwide 12-13 millions of people are estimated to be HIV-infected, and projections for the year 2000 expect 38-110 millions. More than 50% of AIDS patients have ocular manifestations.