A patient is reported with a typical acute HIV-infection. He presented with an infectious mononucleosis-like illness, which included fever, malaise, sore throat, myalgia, swollen glands and a rash. Seroconversion, documented by serial immunoblotting, occurred within a period of four days. If a patient with a glandular fever-like illness belongs to one of the risk groups, an acute HIV-infection should be seriously considered. In a recent study an association was found between the clinical course of acute HIV-infection and the subsequent course. Treatment of asymptomatic HIV-infected patients is discouraged, except if included in a clinical trial.