The top 5 HIV myths: you may think you know everything there is to know about HIV. But here are some common—and persistent—misperceptions we have about the deadly virus that may affect our grandmothers, mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, cousins and girlfriends
Categories: AIDS & HIVMyth #1
HIV and AIDS are the same thing.
Using HIV and AIDS interchangeably is like calling snow flurries a blizzard: You can contract HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) through the exchange of semen, vaginal fluid and blood, but it doesn’t mean that you have AIDS. Doctors consider an HIV-positive person to have AIDS only after the virus has worn down her immune system so much that she’s vulnerable to infections, such as pneumonia, that she could otherwise fight off. (For more basics, log on to aidsmeds.com.)
Myth #2
Knowing who’s “on the DL” will save Black women from HIV.
Learning your partner’s sexual and drug history is important. But the single most effective way to protect yourself is to use a condom every time. Precious Jackson, an AIDS education coordinator at Women Alive in Los Angeles, knows this firsthand. She got the virus while in a relationship with a straight man who didn’t like condoms–and didn’t know he had HIV. “Women must take their health into their own hands, regardless of whom they’re with,” she says. Fretting over whether you can trust a man is pointless, she counsels: “You can trust you.”
Myth #3 women can’t give men HIV.
It’s true that it’s much harder for men to get HIV from women: Men have fewer areas on the penis where the virus can enter the bloodstream–at the urethra (the opening of the tip) and through cuts or sores on the shaft. But if a partner has an untreated STD like syphilis or gonorrhea, which can break the skin, the risk of his contracting HIV or her passing it on greatly increases. This is troubling as some people don’t show symptoms of STDs right away.
Myth #4 Only rich people like Magic Johnson can afford to be so healthy with HIM.