How HIV Is Not Transmitted

HIV cannot be transmitted using the same transport. The virus cannot penetrate your skin. There is therefore no way that the virus can be "passed on" by sitting on a seat where an infected person has been sitting.

HIV cannot be transmitted by using the food and eating utensils used by the HIV infected person. The HI virus has a thin protein layer that protects it against the outside world; if that protein layer is destroyed, the virus is destroyed. So if you eat any food that contains the virus, that virus will end up in your stomach with the food. The protein layer around the virus will be digested by the acidic gastric juices and the virus will be destroyed immediately.

While there is a theoretical risk of HIV transmission from an HIV infected player to an uninfected player during athletic practice or competition, most experts agree that the risk of sports-related HIV transmission is so small that it can be ignored. Universal precautions should be taken on the sports filed though. If a player is bleeding, take him off the field and treat him. If there is no free-flowing blood, there's no chance of infection.

Again, if one considers the conditions needed for the virus to survive, the chance of getting infected through toilet seats is impossible. If the virus gets onto a toilet seat, it would be in contact with air, become dry and die. Also remember that the concentration of HIV in urine is too low for any infection.

People are still worried about a mosquito sucking blood from an HIV infected person and then biting them, thus infecting them. HIV cannot be transmitted by a mosquito or any other insect bite. The HI virus is not capable of getting from the stomach of the mosquito into its bloodstream or from the bloodstream into the salivary glands. Mosquitoes can thus not pass HIV from one person to another. Malaria is a different case.

Many people think that you can contract HIV by being bewitched. This is impossible, as you need the conditions of transmission which includes an HIV positive person.

The last example of a situation in which HIV cannot be transmitted is one of the most important to remember, the physical contact. People always wonder how they should treat an HIV positive person. It's easy, absolutely normally! Remember that you cannot be infected through casual contact and that to the person who is HIV positive, it means a lot to have normal contact with others. People with HIV need positive contact as much as they need the most advanced ARV therapies. They need normal and healthy lives that include love, companionship, family and friends' support, medical care, housing, access to job, social, educational and recreational facilities, and access to places of worship.

If your friend or a member of your family is HIV positive, show friendship and love simply by being there for that person. Make physical contact by hugging him. Your friendship will not only mean a lot to that person but you will become richer person in the process.

Source: Channels of Hope workshop manual.