Learn It Live It :: HIV/AIDS Information

Facts & Myths

You can tell by looking at someone whether or not he/she has HIV or AIDS.

False. A person who looks healthy could be infected because visible signs of the virus may not appear for 10 years.

During anal sex, only the person on the receiving end is at risk.

False. Both partners are at risk. Anal sex is very risky because of small wounds that happen on the penis and the rectal tissue during anal sex.

People who have HIV get sick quickly.

False. People with HIV can stay healthy for many years

Having just one partner at a time protects you from HIV.

False. Anyone can be infected. Even if you have only one partner, that person can be infected.

If a man pulls out before "cumming" (ejaculating), then sex is safe and you wont become infected.

False. Even if the man pulls out, both people could still be exposed to HIV. Pre-ejaculatory fluid in an HIV-positive male contains the virus, and the cervical secretions of an HIV-positive female can also contain the virus.

HIV does not go through unbroken skin.

True. The virus does not pass through unbroken skin.

A person has to have a lot of sex partners to be at risk for HIV.

False. It only takes one partner with HIV for you to become infected.

AIDS can be cured.

False. There is no cure for AIDS but there are treatments that improve quality of life and increase the time people live after they are diagnosed with AIDS. In the late 1980s, the expected life span following full-blown AIDS was only two years. Now it is four years because of new kinds of drug treatments.

Mosquitoes transmit HIV.

False. Mosquitoes do not transmit HIV. Worldwide, there has never been a documented case of HIV infection from a mosquito bite. HIV doesn't survive in mosquitoes and other insects and therefore cannot be transmitted to another person through an insect bite. If a mosquito bite could transmit HIV, then lots of people would be infected who haven't engaged in risky behavior.