!!!AIDS

AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), severe form of immune 
deficiency caused by the  HIV virus, which destroys the immune system 
of the human body. This may result in serious, as yet incurable, 
infections and tumour formation. AIDS was only identified at the 
beginning of the 1980s; the number of cases has also increased in 
Austria. By the end of 1996, approximately 1,700 individuals had 
contracted the disease in Austria, and more than half of them had 
died. In the course of the 1990s, medication has been developed which 
blocks the growth of HIV, thus preventing the further weakening of the 
immune system. Since 1994 and particularly since mid-1996 there has 
been a statistically significant decline in the number of both new 
cases and deaths on account of the widespread availability of this new 
medication. The Austrian AIDS Law of 1986 governs various aspects of 
public attitude vis-à-vis the disease, including the duty to 
report cases and the promotion of suitable preventive measures. 
Advisory centres of the AIDS Assistance Service have been set up in 
all the provincial capitals.

!Literature
P. Kenis and C. Noestlinger, Handbuch AIDS, 1993.


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