When AIDS was first identified, it was often compared to the Black Death of the fourteenth century, in terms of the public panic surrounding the disease and its possible spread. The comparison has not proved to be valid. The bacterium that caused the Black Death (and that still causes bubonic plague) is highly contagious, largely because it is readily transmitted via food, water, and air. HIV is not nearly as contagious. Moreover, by observing precautions that prevent the sharing of bodily fluids, the transmission of HIV can be almost entirely prevented.

The accumulated knowledge of more than twenty years of research and observations have definitively established that the HIV infection can only be transmitted by the following routes:

-           Oral, anal, or vaginal sex with an infected person. Sexual intercourse--particularly heterosexual sex--is the most common mode of HIV transmission.

-           Sharing drug needles or syringes with an infected person.

-           Maternal transmission to a baby perinatally (at the time of birth) and possibly though breast milk.

-           Transplantation of HIV-infected organs or transfusion of infected bodily fluids, such as blood or blood products. In the mid-1980s the transfusion of HIV-infected blood caused thousands of cases of AIDS and led to many deaths in separate incidents in Europe, the United States, and Canada. The blood agencies of the affected countries have revamped their blood-testing policies so that molecular assay techniques, which detect HIV genetic material, are used to screen every donated blood sample.

Confirming the involvement of bodily fluids in HIV transmission, high concentrations of HIV have been found in blood, semen, and cerebrospinal fluid. Not all body fluids seem to be involved, because HIV concentrations one thousand times less have been found in saliva, tears, vaginal secretions, breast milk, and feces.

However, there have been no reports of HIV transmission from saliva, tears, or human bites. In fact, Lawrence K. Altman reports in ''Protein in Saliva Found to Block AIDS Virus in Test Tube Study'' (New York Times, February 7, 1995) that a small protein found in human saliva actually blocks the virus from entering the system.

Even though HIV is an infectious, contagious disease, it is not spread in the same manner as a common cold or chicken pox. It is not spread by sneezing or coughing, as are airborne illnesses. HIV is not spread by sharing a bathroom, swimming in a pool, or by hugging or shaking hands. Studies of family members who lived with and cared for AIDS patients have not found definitive evidence that anyone has become infected through casual contact. Still, myths abound. To combat misinformation, the U.S. Surgeon General's office and public health education initiatives continue to stress that HIV is not spread by:

-           Bites from mosquitoes or other insects.

-           Bites from animals.

-           Food handled, prepared, or served by HIV-infected people.

-           Forks, spoons, knives, or drinking glasses used by HIV-infected people.

-           Chairs previously occupied by people with HIV.

-           Casual contact such as touching, hugging, or kissing a person who is HIV positive (open-mouth kissing with a person who is HIV positive is not recommended because of potential exposure to blood).

Health officials agree that donating blood poses no danger of HIV infection for the donors. The needles used to draw blood from donors are new and are thrown away after one use. Therefore, contact with HIV from donating blood is impossible.

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