The emergence of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s had a significant impact in Europe because it reawakened concerns about infectious diseases thought to be long-conquered by that time. So it not only affected mortality at certain relatively young ages, but also shifted the perception of health care needs. Even today, AIDS mortality in Spain is among the highest in Europe. It peaked there in 1994 before the wider use of combination therapy reduced the probability of dying from the disease. Analysis of data for that year reveals excess AIDS mortality among young adults. This phenomenon created a temporary but significant deformation of the risks of dying for people in their thirties: in the mid-1990s, AIDS mortality represented almost a third of total mortality in this age group in Spain.