Knowledge of AIDS Facts Increases, Study Finds

ATLANTA —  More and more Americans know that people can get AIDS from sexual intercourse with an infected person but not from casual contact with an AIDS victim, a federal study released Thursday shows.

The study, based on about 3,500 interviews a month from August, 1987, to August, 1988, and conducted by the federal Centers for Disease Control’s National Center for Health Statistics, indicates that Americans think they know more about AIDS than before and that they may be right.

But it may be years before the improvement shows up in a drop in reported new AIDS cases, because some people can be infected with the AIDS virus for 10 years before symptoms appear, federal researchers say.

The CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report said the overall gain in knowledge about acquired immune deficiency syndrome coincides with a national public awareness campaign.

It said the effect of one element of the campaign, the mailing of an AIDS fact brochure to most American households in May and June last year, is being analyzed.

The report said the percentage of parents who discussed AIDS with their children remained constant at about 60% but that those reporting their children had AIDS education in schools was up from 36% to 59%.

The adults correctly answering it was “definitely true” that AIDS was an infectious disease caused by a virus rose from 44% to 64%.

Other study findings included:

--Those who knew it is very unlikely to get AIDS by working near someone who has the disease increased from 53% to 67%.

--The percentage of people saying they knew “a lot” or “some” about AIDS rose from 60% to 66%.

--Those correctly answering that it is “definitely true” that AIDS can be transmitted through intercourse with an infected person increased from 75% to about 85%.