As of February, 1988, the Centers for Disease Control had recorded over 50,000 AIDS cases and almost 25,000 AIDS deaths nationwide. Perhaps as many as 1.5 to 2 million people in the United States are infected with HIV yet show no evidence of infection other than the presence of antibodies in their blood. Groups at risk of contracting AIDS are homosexual or bisexual males, intravenous drug abusers, and children of infected mothers. HIV can be transmitted sexually from males to females and females to males. Some clinical manifestations of the HIV infection include an acute flu-like illness within a few weeks following infection, persistent generalized lymphadenopathy (PGL), oral Candida (thrush), and parasitic infections. Several immunomodulators and anti-viral drugs are being evaluated as possible treatments for HIV infection, including AZT. The prognosis for people infected with HIV appears to be poor; the case fatality ratio for AIDS remains 50 percent. 74 notes. (Author abstract modified).