HEALTH : Bush Asks Compassion on AIDS

BETHESDA, Md. — President Bush appealed today to Americans to demonstrate compassion for victims of AIDS, saying that a “misplaced fear” of the deadly disease is preventing some people from helping.

Bush underscored his point by touring the clinical wards of the National Institutes of Health, meeting children ranging in age from less than a year to the early teens who are being treated with experimental AIDS drugs. He was accompanied by his wife, Barbara.

Later, addressing health professionals involved in fighting AIDS, Bush said, he wanted to educate “Americans who don’t want to help, don’t want to become involved because of a misplaced fear. They’re afraid of holding an AIDS patient because they’re frightened of getting AIDS.”