Odd-job worker Ng Chin Huat thinks that only rich people get Aids.

The 50-year-old bachelor, who frequents brothels in Indonesia, said in Mandarin: 'I think poor people are safe from Aids. Aids is something you pass to others to take revenge, right?

'So who would want to harm a poor person?'

Almost 20 years after acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or Aids, emerged here, there is still ignorance of how the deadly disease is spread.

But according to the Health Promotion Board (HPB), a study it conducted in 2002 on 1,000 Singaporeans found most adult males aware of how Aids is spread and what its effects were.

Though a record 242 people were diagnosed last year with HIV/Aids - the highest since 1985 - this could be because more were coming forward to be tested, said HPB.

But it did not rule out an actual increase in the number of people being infected because some could be slipping through the cracks.

Interviews with 10 men at the Singapore Cruise Centre, where many depart for Batam in search of cheap sex, showed that the message may not be getting through to the group at highest risk of infection: males, mostly aged between 30 and 49, in blue-collar jobs having unprotected sex with prostitutes.

Of the 10, four were not sure how Aids was spread, and two did not even know what it was. A 55-year-old cleaner, who was single, thought some men got Aids because of their blood type.

Yet, half of those interviewed admitted to paying for sex overseas, with two saying they did not use condoms, which were 'uncomfortable'.

With prevention the only way to curb the incurable disease, public education is the mainstay of Aids programmes in Singapore. 

But last year, four in 10 were diagnosed only when the virus had developed into full-blown Aids, a sign, said Aids activists, that public education campaigns had failed to reach the right audience.

The main problems are denial, ignorance and the stigma still attached to Aids which makes people reluctant to be tested.

According to Dr Leo Yee Sin, clinical director of the Communicable Disease Centre (CDC), awareness of the disease's existence is very high, even among the less- educated. 'But what they have is superficial knowledge, with very little understanding.' 

They know that Aids is 'shameful', incurable and expensive to treat.

But there is far less awareness about how it is spread, with some thinking that it is transmitted through touching, kissing or sharing of food rather than sex.

Mr. Ng, the odd-job worker, thinks one can spot an Aids patient by his skin. 'People with Aids have black dots on their skin,' he said.

Then there are those who deny it will ever happen to them. 'They think that their chances of getting infected are as slim as striking lottery. Some say, 'I'm not homosexual, so I can't possibly get it',' said Ms Ho Lai Peng, a senior medical social worker.

Another form of denial is not getting tested because there is no hope of a cure.

Said Ms Mary Stevens, assistant manager of the CDC's Patient Care Centre: 'There's no cure, and they'll have to face the stigma - their wives divorcing them, their families throwing them out.'

In the meantime, they could be infecting others until symptoms show up, which could be 10 years later.

The HPB carries out year-long Aids education programmes, promoting safer sex messages in the mass media through the four major languages. It holds talks, exhibitions and video screenings in workplaces, foreign workers' hostels, schools and community organisations, and at community health fairs.

But its main message of abstinence from sex outside marriage does not work for this group, said health-care workers. 

Instead, the authorities could stress the importance of using condoms, said non-governmental group Action for Aids.