Harsha L, Vishnu Priya V, R.Gayathri. Knowledge and Awareness on HIV/AIDS among College Students in A University Hospital Setting. Int J Dentistry Oral Sci. 2020;7(12):1182-1186. 1182 OPEN ACCESS https://scidoc.org/IJDOS.php Knowledge and Awareness on HIV/AIDS among College Students in A University Hospital Setting Research Article Harsha L 1 , Vishnu Priya V 2* , R.Gayathri 3 1 Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Saveetha University, Chennai, India. 2 Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, Saveetha Insti-tute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Saveetha University, Chennai, India. 3 Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, Sa-veetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Saveetha University, Chennai, India. International Journal of Dentistry and Oral Science (IJDOS) ISSN: 2377-8075 *Corresponding Author: Dr.Vishnu Priya.V, Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Saveetha University, Chennai, India. E-mail: drvishnupriyav@gmail.com Received: October 20, 2020 Accepted: December 01, 2020 Published: December 07, 2020 Citation: Harsha L, Vishnu Priya V, R.Gayathri. Knowledge and Awareness on HIV/AIDS among College Students in A University Hospital Setting. Int J Dentistry Oral Sci. 2020;7(12):1182-1186. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.19070/2377-8075-20000234 Copyright: Vishnu Priya.V © 2020. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribu- tion and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Introduction Approximately 38.8 million people are living with HIV worldwide and around 1.2 million deaths have been recorded unto 2015 [1]. The possibility of exposure to blood borne pathogens like Hepa-titis B (HBV), Hepatitis C (HCV) and HIV put health care workers at high risk [2-4] Similarly, patients are at risk of trans- mission from health care workers but this risk is considered to be ex-tremely low according to the available literature [2]. In par- ticular, dental care professionals are also exposed to a wide range of infectious pathogens like HIV, HBV, Herpes B virus, HBC virus and many others while performing dental procedures [5]. However, the risk of contracting HIV through needle stick or cut exposure is extremely low (0.3%) as 99.7% of the exposures to HIV contaminated blood do not cause infection [6]. Therefore, the occupational risk of acquiring HIV/AIDS among dental care providers is low but they are at ten folds greater risk than other individuals for becoming carriers of HBV [7, 8]. Dental professionals including dental students should realize that they are ethically liable to treat their patients’ with HIV/AIDS. However, they should have adequate knowledge of HIV related transmission and positive attitudes in order to deliver their re- sponsibility of treating patients with HIV/AIDS. It is important to assess the knowledge and attitudes of dental students which helps in understanding their preparedness for treating HIV/ AIDS patients and if any modifcations have to be incorporated into the dental curriculum to instil positive attitudes in dental students. Thus, the current study evaluated the knowledge and awareness of HIV/AIDS among college students in an university Abstract Aim: The aim of the present survey is to assess the degree of knowledge and awareness about the basics of HIV virus, mode of transmission and oral manifestations of AIDS among undergra-duate students at an university hospital setting, Chennai. Materials and Methods: A Questionnaire based study was conducted to assess the de-gree of knowledge and awareness about the basics of HIV virus, mode of transmission and oral manifestations of AIDS among 100 undergraduate students at an univer- sity hospital setting, Chennai. All participants were provided with a pre structured questionnaire comprising of 28 questions re- lated to Human immunodefciency virus (HIV) and Acquired immune defciency syndrome ( AIDS) and answering was completely self based. The questions were divided into 3 segments (a) basics of Human immunodefciency virus (b) mode of transmission and (c) oral manifestations of AIDS. The possible options chosen by the participants were tabulated and the percentile for each question was calculated. Results: Among the 100 participants, 95% of the participants gave correct answers for ques-tion on the basics of Human im- munodefciency virus. 89% participants chose the correct answers under the section, mode of transmission and 71% of the par- ticipants were aware about the oral manifestation of AIDS. Conclusion: The study was to assess the knowledge of interns about HIV/AIDS. As dental surgeons are exposed to patients with and without AIDS, its is essential that they are aware of the methods of transmission of this viral disease and also are able to diagnose undiagnosed cases through oral manifestation. This would help prevent transmission of this deadly disease. Keywords: AIDS; Autoimmunity; Humman Immunodefciency Virus.