Abstract

The number of newly diagnosed cases of HIV infection is still increasing in Europe. In Central and Western Europe the predominant transmission groups for HIV infection are hetero- and homosexuals. In Eastern Europe the main risk group is still injecting drug users but there is evidence of increasing heterosexual transmission. New reported HIV cases in Estonia  have decreased from 1,080 cases per one million population in 2001 to 406 in 2008. Nevertheless, there is concentrated HIV epidemic among injecting drug users with one of the highest HIV-prevalence rates among this risk group in whole Europe. The article gives a short overview of the trends of HIV infection in the world, in Europe and in Estonia.