A new study by the Kaiser Foundation found that people are becoming less concerned about HIV. The percent of respondents reporting HIV/AIDS as the top health concern in the US dropped from 44% in 1995 to 6%.

While the majority of people understand how HIV is transmitted, there are still a significant handful of people that don’t. Did you know you can get HIV from…

• sharing a drinking glass (20%, up from 15% in 2000)
• using a toilet seat (12%)
• swimming in a pool (7%)

Just to be clear, you can’t get HIV from any of the above routes. Well, maybe you could in an extreme situation – but as a general rule, I don’t think people would sit on a bloody toilet seat. It’d be interesting to see the survey broken down by risk factor, as I’d imagine hope that people at high risk (e.g., MSM, IDU) would better be able to identify the routes of transmission than people at very low risk.

Nonetheless, this survey underscores the importance of continued public health efforts, including President Obama’s HIV campaign, NineAndAHalfMinutes.org.