HIV

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a virus that belongs to the family of retroviruses and the genus lentiviruses. An infection leads to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), a currently incurable immune deficiency disease, after an incubation phase of varying length, usually several years. The spread of HIV has developed into a pandemic in the last 25 years, in which, according to estimates by the UNAIDS organisation, some 25 million people have died to date. Around 33.2 million people are infected with the virus[1] At the end of 2007, around 59,000 people were living with HIV in Germany, including around 47,000 men, around 8,500 women and around 400 children. AIDS had already broken out in 8,700 people. There were approximately 2,700 new infections in 2006[2] In the first half of 2007, 1,334 new infections were registered, 9% more than in the same period last year (1,224), with 64% of new infections affecting homosexual men[3] In Austria, 453 people were infected with HIV in 2005. There are about 20,000 HIV-infected people and about 2,700 AIDS patients living in Switzerland.[4]This article describes HI-viruses and their characteristics. The disease caused by HIV (symptoms, examination, course, therapy, prevention, etc.) is described in the article Aids. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV