Lessons on HIV and AIDS: The myths and facts

1.     Oral sex

You can catch HIV through oral sex, but it is only a small risk. HIV is trans­mit­ted through sem­inal fluid and vaginal flu­ids, includ­ing men­strual flu­ids. The virus can enter the body through con­tact with the blood­stream or by passing through del­ic­ate mucous mem­branes, such as inside the vagina, rectum or urethra.

If a per­son gives fel­la­tio and has bleed­ing gums or a cut or ulcer inside their mouth, they risk HIV enter­ing their blood stream through infec­ted fluid. It’s the same if infec­ted fluid from a woman gets into the mouth of her part­ner dur­ing oral sex.

Using a con­dom dur­ing sex, includ­ing oral and anal sex, is the best way to pre­vent get­ting sexu­ally trans­mit­ted infec­tions (STIs), includ­ing HIV.

Avoid using an oil-based lub­ric­ant, such as Vas­el­ine or baby oil as this can weaken the con­dom and increase the risk of it splitting.

A dental dam (a rect­an­gu­lar piece of latex that fits in your mouth) can also be used dur­ing oral sex to pre­vent the spread of infection.

2.     Kiss­ing

You can­not catch HIV through kiss­ing. The HIV virus can be spread through the exchange of bod­ily flu­ids, such as blood, semen and vaginal flu­ids. The most com­mon way that HIV is spread is through sexual inter­course, includ­ing oral and anal sex. You can’t catch HIV from kiss­ing, from being sneezed on by someone with HIV, from shar­ing baths, tow­els or cut­lery with an HIV-infected per­son, from swim­ming in a pool or sit­ting on a toi­let seat that someone with HIV has used, or from anim­als or insects such as mos­qui­toes. This is because other body flu­ids such as saliva, sweat or urine don’t con­tain enough of the virus to infect another person.

3.     Con­doms

Used cor­rectly, con­doms are the best way to pre­vent sexu­ally trans­mit­ted infec­tions (STIs) such as HIV dur­ing sex (includ­ing anal and oral) and have a very low fail­ure rate.

Con­doms are classed as med­ical devices and there­fore come under strict stand­ards, must meet essen­tial require­ments and go through qual­ity tests.

Always check the expiry date of the con­dom and choose con­doms that carry the European CE mark, a recog­nized safety stand­ard. Do not use nov­elty con­doms — they’re not safe.

Con­doms are most effect­ive when used prop­erly and this includes using the right-sized con­dom. Con­doms come in dif­fer­ent widths and lengths because dif­fer­ent man­u­fac­tur­ers make dif­fer­ent sizes so it may require some invest­ig­a­tion to find the right con­dom. For more inform­a­tion on how to use a con­dom the right way, see Fur­ther inform­a­tion. Here are some basic things you can do to make sure you’re using a con­dom properly: 

a)       Use a new con­dom each time you have sex.
b)       Put on the con­dom as soon as erec­tion occurs and before any sexual con­tact (vaginal, anal or oral).
c)       Avoid using an oil-based lub­ric­ant, such as Vas­el­ine or baby oil. This can weaken the con­dom and increase the chances of it split­ting. Water-based lub­ric­ants are best and can be bought at most super­mar­kets or phar­macists.
d)       The man should with­draw from the part­ner imme­di­ately after ejac­u­la­tion, hold­ing the con­dom firmly to keep it from slip­ping off.

4.     HIV test

HIV can be dia­gnosed by test­ing your blood for the pres­ence of the virus, how­ever, the test will only detect HIV after three months have passed since you were first infec­ted. There­fore, it will usu­ally be recom­men­ded that you have another test three months after your first one.

A test done before these three months are over isn’t reli­able because a blood test may find no anti­bod­ies and so you will appear free of HIV even if you have been infec­ted (and you could pass HIV on to others).

5.     Spot of blood on a door handle, toi­let seat, etc

HIV is trans­mit­ted through the exchange of bod­ily flu­ids, such as:

a)       sem­inal fluid,
b)       vaginal flu­ids, includ­ing men­strual flu­ids,
c)       breast milk,
d)       blood,
e)       the mucous found in the rectum, and
f)        pre-cum (the fluid that the penis pro­duces for lub­ric­a­tion before ejaculation)

The virus also can be spread through shar­ing needles, and from a preg­nant woman to her unborn baby. How­ever, due to advances in treat­ment, steps can be taken to help reduce the like­li­hood of passing the infec­tion to the baby. These steps include the use of anti­ret­ro­viral med­ic­a­tion for the mother and her new­born baby, giv­ing birth by Caesarean sec­tion, and avoid­ing breastfeeding.

It is extremely unlikely. Firstly, HIV is not trans­mit­ted through ordin­ary daily activ­it­ies such as shak­ing hands or a cas­ual kiss. In addi­tion, you can­not become infec­ted from things such as a toi­let seat, doorknob or crockery.

If HIV-infected blood is present, the trans­mis­sion of HIV in a house­hold or other set­ting such as pub­lic toi­lets or hos­pit­als is rare.

HIV is a fra­gile virus and does not sur­vive for very long out­side the human body. You would also have to have an open cut or wound come dir­ectly in con­tact with the spot of blood so that they touch and the virus then pos­sibly enters. The like­li­hood of all these events occur­ring is very rare.

Fur­ther­more, you can­not catch HIV from kiss­ing, from being sneezed on by someone who has HIV, from shar­ing baths, tow­els or cut­lery with an HIV-infected per­son, from swim­ming in a pool or sit­ting on a toi­let seat that someone with HIV has used, or from anim­als or insects such as mosquitoes.