BERLIN, Dec 1 (AFP) - A total of 600 new AIDS cases were registered in Germany in 1999, the same number as in 1998, the Robert Koch institute said Wednesday in a communique issued on World AIDS Day.

The institute, a major medical research center in Germany, said that of the 5,000 AIDS patients overall in the country, 500 had died in 1999.

It estimated that in 1999, 2,100 people had been contaminated with HIV, the virus that can cause AIDS. A quarter of those were women.

In total, some 37,000 people in Germany are HIV carriers.

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