The accurate identification of HIV positive individuals represents another barrier to effective public health interventions in China's HIV/AIDS epidemic. For example, although an estimated 80,000 Chinese HIV patients now have symptomatic AIDS, less than 5% have been identified (24) . General knowledge regarding the biological mechanisms and public health implications of HIV also remains problematic. There appears to be a false sense of security among ordinary Chinese that HIV is a foreigners' disease which only affects marginal communities (26) . A previous community survey demonstrated that only 3% of Chinese people were aware that HIV was transmitted through an exchange of bodily fluids. However, in the same study, 54% of participants thought that sharing chopsticks could spread the disease (8) . Lack of preventive knowledge is another serious issue hampered by limited HIV-related knowledge. Aside for hampering the ultimate success of public health intervention programs, this type of biological ignorance also stigmatizes people already carrying the virus, forcing them even deeper underground and away from potential sources of help.