The International AIDS Society (IAS) on Saturday put the number of people headed to its AIDS 2014 conference in Australia, and on flight MH17 shot down over Ukraine, at six.
More may be found, IAS president Francoise Barre-Sinoussi said, but the number was well short of figures circulated in the international media.
"The numbers that we have confirmed through our contact with authorities in Australia, in Malaysia, and the Dutch authority as well, is six people," Prof Barre-Sinoussi told reporters.
"It may be a little bit more but not the (unofficial) numbers that have been announced."
Prominent members of the AIDS research community confirmed as being on flight MH17 include former IAS president Joep Lange and his partner, Jacqueline van Tongeren.
Also lost was Pim de Kuijer, of the organisation STOP AIDS NOW!, Lucie van Mens and Maria Adriana de Schutter of AIDS Action Europe, and Glenn Thomas of the World Health Organisation.
Prof Barre-Sinoussi said their loss was a "moment of deep sadness for the world", and a special tribute would be held when the conference began on Sunday.
"Our colleagues were travelling because of their dedication to bringing an end to AIDS," she told reporters in Melbourne on Saturday.
"The extent of our loss is hard to comprehend and express."
Giant letters spelling out "AIDS 2014" have been erected on
Melbourne's Princes Bridge to mark the conference, and the site has become an informal memorial where flowers have been left by the public.
A joint statement by the Australian government and Labor opposition has also noted the "senseless and tragic" loss of people devoted to "eradicating AIDS from the planet".
The six people, and their organisations, are:
-Pim de Kuijer, STOP AIDS NOW!
-Joep Lange, co-director of the HIV Netherlands Australia Research Collaboration (HIV-NAT)
-Jacqueline van Tongeren, of the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development and partner of Joep Lange
-Lucie van Mens, director, AIDS Action Europe
-Maria Adriana de Schutter, AIDS Action Europe
-Glenn Thomas, World Health Organisation
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