Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Associated Press - Friday November 20, 1998
Russ Bynum, Associated Press Writer
Interviews with HIV-infected patients in rural areas of four states showed that more than half never thought they were at risk of contracting the AIDS virus, though most were engaging in unprotected sex and other risky behavior, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
Nearly a third of those who didn't think they were at risk admitted they had no idea how the virus was spread.
"Clearly it's the people who are engaging in the higher risk behaviors who appear not to be getting the basic information about transmission," CDC epidemiologist Amy Lansky said Thursday. "I guess we'd all like to think that, 10 to 15 years into the epidemic, people would know how HIV is spread."
Researchers interviewed 608 adults with HIV living in rural areas of Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and Delaware.
Asked why they didn't consider themselves at risk, 33 percent of men and 29 percent of women said they didn't know how HIV was spread. Other reasons given included not thinking their sex partners were infected and the belief that only homosexuals and intravenous drug users contracted HIV.
Unprotected sex and crack use were common among those interviewed. Crack users commonly trade sex for drugs.
The CDC said it doesn't know of any studies in which it asked urban HIV patients the same questions.
Researchers noted that the vast majority of AIDS cases are concentrated in urban areas. AIDS cases in rural areas made up less than 10 percent of the 641,086 cases reported through 1997, the CDC said.
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