Myths about HIV and AIDS

People still confuse the names HIV and AIDS

A quarter of a century ago, doctors from the United States published a report of several cases of an unknown disease among young American men. Thus began the era of the AIDS epidemic, but at the same time another epidemic began - myths about a new infection. If you suddenly find out that your HIV test is “doubtful” or “positive and needs to be rechecked,” you should not immediately panic or run to get tested in another laboratory.

In our country there has not yet been a single case of HIV, and we already knew that this was the “plague of the twentieth century”, that it occurs in some bad “risk groups”, and so on. We now know that AIDS is caused by a virus, we know when and how it is transmitted, and we even have treatments. But the myths remain and, alas, most people have a much greater understanding of them than of the truth.

An entire book could be devoted to the mythology of AIDS. Here are just six harmful myths.

1. HIV and AIDS are either the same thing or two different diseases

People still confuse the names HIV and AIDS. Here it’s time to cross all the proverbial “e’s”. AIDS – acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Immunodeficiency means that the immune system, which protects our body from viruses and bacteria, begins to work incorrectly. Immunodeficiency can be congenital in a person, or it can develop due to old age or serious illness. AIDS is a special immunodeficiency, different from others, and it is associated with the activity of one virus.

HIV – human immunodeficiency virus. Like all viruses, it needs someone else's cell to reproduce. In the human body, there is only one type of cell in which HIV multiplies: a type of immune system cell called CD4. For a time, the immune system keeps HIV at bay and replaces lost CD4. But without treatment, after a few years, HIV can lead to immunodeficiency - AIDS. Therefore, saying “getting infected with AIDS” or “being tested for AIDS” is incorrect. HIV, that is, a virus, is transmitted, and it is determined by the analysis.

2. HIV tests often show incorrect results.

Sometimes you can hear that an HIV test may not show the presence of the virus for almost several years. This is wrong. HIV infection may not make itself felt for several years, this is true. But the HIV test becomes positive within the first weeks. In 95% of people, the test becomes positive after 3 months; for the rest, this process takes up to 6 months.

But the positive result of the first HIV test is sometimes incorrect – a false positive. Therefore, it must be checked with another analysis - confirmatory. This confirmatory analysis is a completely different type - it is more accurate. Therefore, if you are told that an HIV test is “doubtful” or “positive and needs to be rechecked,” you don’t need to immediately panic or go and retake it to another laboratory. If another type of test is also positive, then the doctor diagnoses HIV infection.

3. HIV is spread through needles in cinemas (discotheques, transport)

Everyone has heard about the notorious “needle sticks”. They wrote in the newspapers and there are “letters of happiness” about this on the Internet, and a friend of a friend had a friend who seemed to have been injected like this. There is only one problem: in 25 years of the epidemic, not a single case has been recorded in which they tried to transmit HIV to someone. Needles in the railings invariably turn out to be the work of local hooligans, injections in clubs - the machinations of competitors or the excessive imagination of tipsy visitors.

Here are a few facts. An accidental injection with a medical needle (for example, a doctor injecting himself immediately after a patient with AIDS) is associated with a very small risk - no more than 0.1%. Another fact: according to one survey, more than 90% of people's first thought after being diagnosed with HIV is: “Did I spread HIV to someone else?” What kind of “conspiracies” are we talking about? You wouldn't start stabbing someone with needles if you were diagnosed with HIV, would you? People with HIV are no different from your acquaintances, friends and family members. Only prejudice against people affected by the epidemic makes one believe in any nonsense.

4. Condoms have small holes through which HIV can enter.

Very often, religious leaders, and even ordinary people, say that latex condoms have small holes that are much larger than HIV. But the fact is that free copies of the virus “float” in the body fluid. They are not able to get through, crawl through or jump somewhere. A condom does not allow liquid to pass through, which means it does not allow HIV to pass through.

A condom does not protect 100% - after all, it can tear or come off, especially if used improperly. However, many studies have shown its effectiveness against HIV. Here is one of them: 171 couples in which one partner had HIV consistently used condoms for several years. As a result, HIV was transmitted to only 3 partners. That is, the condom reliably protected 98% of couples from a very real risk.

5. If a pregnant woman has HIV, it will definitely be passed on to the child.

There are more than enough exaggerations regarding pregnancy with HIV. It is believed that HIV can be transmitted to a child from a mother during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding. If a woman is breastfeeding and no protective measures were taken during pregnancy and childbirth, the risk to the child will be 20-30%. Artificial feeding and a special antiviral drug during pregnancy will reduce this risk to 1-5%.

In developed countries such as the US or UK, the rate of HIV transmission to children has long been less than 1%. This is why women are tested for HIV during pregnancy so that all measures can be taken to protect the child.

6. HIV infection is a death sentence

There are chronic diseases that a person cannot get rid of - for example, diabetes or hypertension. But this does not mean that they are a “death sentence” and cannot be treated. HIV is a chronic infection, meaning there is no way to rid the body of the virus.

Often the media publishes reports about “magicians” who were able to cure HIV - some by heating a person to extreme temperatures, some by prayer and the Holy Spirit, and some by the ability to negotiate with mysterious biofields. Behind these messages are usually scammers trying to scam money out of desperate people. Until now, there has not been a single case of “cure” from HIV. But this does not mean that HIV infection cannot be treated at all.

Since 1996, there has been an effective treatment for HIV infection - combination antiviral therapy, which suppresses the replication of HIV in the body. The goal of therapy is to stop the progression of HIV infection and prevent a person from developing AIDS. Anti-HIV therapy must be taken continuously, much like insulin for diabetes or pills for hypertension. For many people with HIV, it is too early to start therapy - their immune system is still coping with the virus, but at the stage of AIDS it may be too late. That is why it is so important that HIV is found in a person on time.

To sum it up, real, not mythical, HIV infection can be detected, it can be treated, and it can definitely be protected from it. And the first thing you need to do to take care of your health and the health of your loved ones is to abandon these and other myths.