Every Bermudian has the right to accurate AIDS education.

This was the view of Dr. Victoria Cargill, an associate professor of medicine at Cleveland's Case Western Reserve University, who addressed members of the Hamilton Rotary Club this week.

Dr. Cargill is in Bermuda to mark tomorrow's World Aids Day with a week-long series of lectures.

She told Rotarians the world was a global village and since it only took her two hours to reach Bermuda from the east coast, "whatever we (in the US) have, you (in Bermuda) have, but only two hours later''.

Dr. Cargill also discussed the various attitudes held by the public, including what she called "the AIDS shield'' mentality where someone thinks "I can't get AIDS because I'm married''.

"Two hours away from a beautiful jewel (Bermuda) there is a country where every 15 seconds someone becomes infected with the AIDS virus,'' she said.

And Dr. Cargill urged Rotarians to imagine the effect of AIDS on tourism if visitors came here for a holiday and, after some sun and various types of fun, returned home, and "remembered their holiday, 10 years later''.

"You can learn from other countries which made mistakes,'' she stressed, referring to the lack of action before the AIDS explosion in the US and elsewhere. "Please don't repeat our mistakes.'' Turning to the controversial condom issue, Dr. Cargill said: "I don't know any dead people who wear condoms.'' She noted that only living people wore condoms and that abstinence, monogamy, condoms or death were the only choices open to people.

Dr. Cargill also warned her attentive audience that AIDS "will become everyone's problem''. And she reminded them that they all would be touched by the disease in some way.

"Bermudians are well travelled people,'' she noted. "And they'll bring home more than just photographs.'' Dr. Cargill stressed that prevention was the key and urged Bermuda not to be sidetracked, but creative and proactive in its approach to AIDS.

She concluded by urging Bermudians to love "each other enough to stop the spread of HIV (the AIDS virus)''.