The Philippine Online Chronicles

The International AIDS Candlelight Memorial was started in 1983 by the Global Health Council as one of many ways to help spread HIV/AIDS awareness in the world. The Memorial falls on every third Sunday in May and honors all those who have been lost to AIDS while also raising consciousness about the disease.

One of the things that continue to dampen efforts being made to spread HIV/AIDS Awareness is that myths continue to be perpetrated. In our country’s case, the way media reports news and statistics even result in new misconceptions that derail information campaign efforts. Here are the top myths and misconceptions HIV awareness advocates have been at pains to correct.

HIV and AIDS are the same.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the virus which causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). AIDS is the last stage of HIV infection wherein the person is already suffering from many different illnesses as a result of opportunistic infections, and their resulting complications, which his body can no longer fight.

When you get HIV, you are sure to die of AIDS.

A person with HIV who continues to have unhealthy habits (drinking, smoking, not eating or sleeping well, etc.) and fail to seek the necessary medical help to manage his/her health is highly likely to die of AIDS. However, if a person with HIV starts making lifestyle changes and works with specialists as soon as he finds out about the disease, and not after symptoms have set in, the chances are great that he/she can continue being a productive member of society and living a full life.

In fact, even babies born HIV-positive now have a chance to grow up. A lot will really depend on one’s health to start with (Magic Johnson was an athlete who continue to be healthy even with HIV), the lifestyle changes one makes, the support system one has and access to the right information and medical care. People in Africa are only dying because they do not have enough food to nourish their bodies with, and no means to sustain medical treatments.

You can tell who has HIV.

People who have HIV usually start out asymptomatic. A person with a generally healthy lifestyle may never suspect for a long time that he/she has HIV because there won’t be signs that the immune system has been compromised. Plus, we all get the occasional cold. But persistence of symptoms like fever, flu, fatigue, diarrhea, colds and coughs, weight loss, skin rashes and lesions, as well as swelling of lymph nodes in the neck, arm pits or groin area are suggestive of a dip in the immune system.

A person who has indulged in risky activities like unprotected sex or shared needles during drug use should get tested for HIV.

On a related note, you cannot tell just by looking if one has HIV or not, unless his condition has progressed so badly that lesions can be seen on his face and he looks sick. Just because someone came from a good family, is good-looking, has a great personality and job does not exempt him from possibly having the virus.

You can get HIV from kissing someone.

You won’t get HIV by kissing a person with HIV on the cheek or being kissed by the same anywhere. You would also need gallons of his saliva for him to be able to transmit the virus to you in a deep kiss. However, if you have sores or lesions in your mouth, a person with HIV may not need to drown you in saliva.

For HIV to be successfully transmitted there has to be high concentration of the virus at the time of exposure. The virus has to be transmitted in a way that it will get directly into the bloodstream or other mucous membranes. The virus is usually concentrated enough in the blood and organs, vaginal/seminal fluids and breast milk. Thus, there is a high chance of transmission when sharing contaminated needles and syringes during drug use.

Other ways that HIV is successfully transmitted include having unprotected sexual intercourse with an infected person and either giving birth or breastfeeding your baby if you are an HIV-positive mother. It goes without saying then, but will still be reiterated here, that you cannot acquire HIV from hugging someone, or being in the same room as him, or swimming with him. You can freely talk with an HIV-positive person, share his food and borrow his clothes too.

People with HIV need to be avoided.

Since persons with HIV are not contagious, they should not be avoided and discriminated against. But if you have colds or other communicable diseases, be considerate enough and avoid them. They are more susceptible to catch something from you and colds which healthy people battle for two days to a week may take them longer to recover from.

The Philippines has few cases of HIV and AIDS because we are a prayerful nation.

Unfortunately, it is the strong influence of the Catholic Church that is greatly impeding the information drive for safer sex practices and HIV/AIDS Awareness. The Church’s lack of support to the Reproductive Health Bill and the government bending to the Church’s influence make it harder for people engaged in risky behaviours to get help before they even need it.

From one case reported every three days in 2000, there is now an average of three cases reported each day. Humphrey Gorriceta, spokesperson for the National Federation of Filipino Living with HIV and AIDS (NAFFWA), in his closing remarks at the 2010 AIDS Summit asked religious leaders to continue their work in inculcating values to the people but asked them not to thwart the efforts being made by other groups as well since they share a common objective: to stop the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country.

Being a Catholic country has also not stopped teenagers and young adults from dabbling in risky behaviors such as drug use and premarital sex. At least 23% of adolescents aged 15-24 years old have engaged in premarital sex back in 2004, with only 35% of them using condoms. The numbers can easily be higher now, what with technology facilitating casual encounters.

Oral sex is the safest sex.

The safest sex is no sex at all. Abstinence is the only foolproof way to prevent pregnancy and STDs. Any unprotected form of sex, whether oral, anal or vaginal, carries with it risks. In the case of oral sex, an HIV-positive person can infect his partner through seminal or vaginal discharge especially if the receiver has some lesions in the mouth. Condom use is also still encouraged even with oral sex.

We both have HIV - we don’t need to use condoms anymore.

People with HIV may not have the same HIV strains and re-infection will make treatment harder. Condoms, though only 98% effective in preventing STD transmission, will still go a long way in protecting both parties from re-infection.

Only gay men/promiscuous women/call center agents/druggies get HIV.

HIV does not play favorites. It knows no age, no social standing, and no educational background. There isn’t any at risk gender or job, only risky behaviors. Call center agents aren’t the only ones having unprotected sex.

Sex workers are not the poor and uneducated anymore; a lot of them are college students and young professionals with good families looking to earn a fast extra buck for designer clothes and bags. One only has to check out KTV channels or adult message boards to see men and women alike looking to hook up. Some say they are lonely. Some need cellphone load. Some just want to have fun. Organized orgies may not be common but no longer unheard of.

And then there are all the rest of teenagers left alone to experiment with drugs or alcohol leading to other risky behaviors. HIV does not play favorites. All it takes is one opportunity for the right person to infect you.

Right now, there is still no cure for AIDS, or a vaccine for HIV. Anti-retroviral medications just basically slow down HIV progression in the body. The cost of these drugs is still an issue since not everyone may be able to afford the lifelong maintenance cost. Not everyone stricken may also be able to afford the lifestyle changes necessary to ensure his health.  Hepatitis or pneumonia can easily land someone with HIV. It is for these reasons that advocates are fighting to make more people aware.

This is a fact: having HIV, though not the life sentence it used to be anymore, will still compromise lives.

Over 25 million people have already died of AIDS since 1981 - 100-plus of them were Filipinos. On May 16, let us commemorate all those lost lives and commit to join the fight against HIV and AIDS.

Photos: “Hiv ribbon in SVG format” by Trygve Utstumo, c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved / Magic Johnson from Wikimedia Commons. Under Public Domain / “World Aids Day, December 1” by Jonathan Sullivan, c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved

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Mec Arevalo is a serial blogger, stay-at-home Mom, breastfeeding peer counselor for L.A.T.C.H. Inc. and volunteer counselor/facilitator for FAD Inc. Aside from being an intentional parent and preparing their family for homeschooling, she does what she can for her advocacies: breastfeeding, children-in-conflict with the law (CICL), HIV/AIDS Awareness and sign language. She relaxes by Plurking and digiscrapping.