The aim of this study was to profile HIV-positive patients attending at a hospital, estimate the prevalence of HIV infection, identify the conditions with which these patients presented and their subsequent management requirements. A retrospective cohort study of all computerised accident and emergency (A&E) records of patients with known HIV infection, who had attended St James's Hospital in Dublin, was conducted. From January 1990 to January 1992 the researchers found there had been 260 patients known to be infected with HIV. These patients accounted for a total of 709 visits. Within the group 89% were intravenous drug users (IVDUs), 9% were homosexual/bisexual and 2% heterosexual. Known HIV-positive patients accounted for 0.7% of the total number of patients who attended the A&E in 1990, and 0.8% in 1991. Seventy-two per cent of the IVDUs fulfilled Centers of Disease Control criteria for stages II and III of the disease. The majority of this group used the A&E for primary medical care, although listed with a general practitioner and attending during the daytime.