[The influence of HIV infections on the demand for assistance in an outpatient clinic for venereal diseases].

Educative campaigns on the danger of HIV infection have been quite successful. Within a decade the number of cases of gonorrhoea has sharply fallen. However, fear of AIDS does to some extent increase the demand for medical examination for sexually transmitted diseases. This explains why there is a discrepancy between the total number of consultations in the outpatient department and the actual number of cases of gonorrhoea diagnosed. From 1987 onward more time is being spent per consultation on counselling concerning HIV and prevention of HIV transmission by discouraging risk-bearing sexual practices. The numbers show that the target group has been reached successfully. In the University Hospital of Utrecht about half the patients with positive HIV serology were known before 1987 in the outpatient department for sexually transmitted diseases of that hospital. In the near future it will be mostly the venereal diseases clinics that will deal with the increasing demands concerning HIV.