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(New York City) Despite massive educational programs on HIV and other viruses tweens and teens show little knowledge of them and believe they will not contract them according to a new national survey.
Harris Interactive posed a series of questions to young people about viruses and the illnesses they cause.
An astonishing 61 percent of youths said that there are antibiotics that can protect them from catching a virus.
"This result and others indicate that youths do not necessarily recognize the differences between viruses and other causal agents of illness (such as bacteria), and their beliefs regarding the efficacy of prevention options reflect this," said Harris in a statement Monday.
The survey of 1,373 children and teenagers between the ages 8 and 18 were surveyed online by Harris Interactive in collaboration with Southwest Institute for Research on Women at the University of Arizona between March 15 to 20, 2006.
Nine in 10 tweens and 95 percent of teens have heard of HIV. Among teens, awareness of bird flu and hepatitis C is also high and only slightly lower among tweens.
But when asked if they thought it was likely that they or one of their friends would catch these virus-caused diseases only a little under two in 10 said it is extremely or very likely that they or their friends could catch HIV/AIDS and fewer believed they would contract bird flu or Hepatitis C.
The survey also found that both tweens and teens have little understanding of what a virus is.
When asked about ways to protect themselves from catching a virus, teens and tweens emphasize the importance of good hygiene and general healthy behaviors, but do not appear to differentiate between actions focused on viruses versus bacteria.
Most youth said that washing their hands would protect them against catching a virus, and nine in 10 also mentioned staying away from people who are infected and being vaccinated.
About eight in 10 say that using antibacterial lotion on their hands would help.
©365Gay.com 2006
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