Why Are There so Many AIDS Myths?

Why Are There so Many AIDS Myths?

When AIDS first showed up, it was a very mysterious disease. It killed a lot of people. There are still many unanswered questions about the disease. A lot of people reacted with fear and came up with stories to back up their fear. Most of these stories had to do with how easy it was to get infected with HIV. Most of these are not true.

Myths About "Catching" HIV

Many people believed that HIV and AIDS could be transmitted by a mosquito bite, by sharing a drinking glass with someone with AIDS, by being around someone with AIDS who was coughing, by hugging or kissing someone with AIDS, and so on. See Fact Sheet 150 for current information on how HIV is transmitted. Transmission can only occur if someone is exposed to blood, semen, vaginal fluid or mother's milk (see Fact Sheet 611) from an infected person. There is no proven case of transmission from the tears or saliva of an infected person.

• Myth: A woman with HIV infection can't have children without infecting them.
  Reality: Without any treatment, HIV-infected mothers pass HIV to their newborns about 25% of the time. However, with modern treatments, this rate has dropped below 2%. See Fact Sheet 611 for more information about HIV and pregnancy.
• Myth: HIV is being spread by needles left in theater seats or vending machine coin returns.
  Reality: There is no documented case of this type of transmissio