[Recent data on HIV epidemiology in Germany].

In a multicenter study on HIV prevalence the German Red Cross Blood Banks provide information on the safety of blood products and the epidemiology of HIV infections in blood donors in the FRG. Although statistically not yet significant, there are trends to an increasing number of HIV infections especially in young male blood donors. Beside an increasing number of heterosexually transmitted infections, in recent years more donors found to be infected admitted homosexual contacts. Obviously, the awareness of HIV risks is poor. The data suggest that there may be a spread of HIV infections in the general population. As the risk of HIV infection can no longer be regarded to be limited to the known risk groups, an increasing effort to educate people on HIV risks is necessary not only in blood donors but even more in the general population. The epidemiologic trends result from parts of the donor population. Aware of these trends, donor selection has been intensified by the blood banks and resulted in changes to more donations from low-prevalence populations. Therefore, the residual risk of an HIV infection by blood products can still be considered as 1:300,000 to 1:3 million in the FRG.