BERLIN, Oct 21 (AFP) - German researchers deplored Tuesday the lack of funding in Germany dedicated to efforts to find a vaccine for AIDS and called on the government to rethink its priorities.

"According to our calculations, the budget for research into an AIDS vaccine is about seven million euros (8.2 million dollars)," said Bernhard Fleckenstein, head of research at Erlangen-Nuremberg University.

"That is around 300 times less than in the United States," he said.

The director of the Robert Koch Institute, a research facility specialising in contagious diseases, complained the German government had not set clear goals in the fight against AIDS.

"All the research sectors are treated in the same way," said Reinhard Kurth, and he called for more funds to fight what he described as "the biggest medical catastrophe of modern times."

The researchers are among 25 scientists holding a two-day conference at the Institute in Berlin on developments in Germany's fight against AIDS.

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