AIDS is the biggest public health threat for a generation. To date there have been a few hundred victims in Britain, but experts predict there will soon be many thousands.
AIDS will affect men, women and children and, unless a cure is found, all those who get it will rapidly die.
Doctors and scientists are desperately searching for a drug or a vaccine to knock out the virus. Will prevention - safer sex - prove better than a cure? Can alternative medicine bring hope to AIDS victims?
Tonight, Margaret Jay talks to AIDS victims and those trying to help them.
Panorama reports from France, the US and Britain on the latest developments.