The anxieties of the general public about the transmission of AIDS need to be addressed by the practitioner. The belated strong support for AIDS research and education may be misinterpreted as an indication that AIDS is a universal threat. In fact, at least 95 percent of the population at large are unlikely to become infected. Slightly less than 75 percent of adult cases are in homosexuals. National figures show that 93 percent are males, with an absence of homosexual females, indicating that certain sexual practices rather than sexual preference per se dictate risk. Presumed heterosexual transmission continues to account for 4 percent of cases nationally. Pediatric cases accounted for between 1 percent to 2 percent nationally, most occurring through infection in utero or at birth to mothers who contracted AIDS through contaminated intravenous drug injections. Patients seeking a 'blood test' can be informed that a negative screening test means that there is a probability on the order of 95 percent to 99 percent that the individual has not been sufficiently exposed to HIV recently enough to develop an antibody. The national average for the prevalence of HIV antibody repeatedly positive by ELISA screening of blood donors is 0.25 percent and is 0.05 percent for Western blood confirmable donors. Issues such as mishandling of HIV antibody tests, school attendance by children with AIDS, and accidental exposure to contaminated blood are discussed.