GROUP ACTIVITY

Myths about the Connection between HIV and AIDS

Objective

To dispell common myths about HIV/AIDS transmission and risk.

Minimum Time

30 minutes

Materials Needed

2 handouts

1) Myths about the Connection between HIV and AIDS

2) Myths and Facts about the Connection between HIV and AIDS.

Instructions

¨ Give each participant the Myths about the Connection between HIV and AIDS handout.

¨ Review each myth.

¨ Ask participants to refute the myth using whatever they know about HIV/AIDS.

¨ Discuss the facts to dispel the myths.

¨ Give the participants the Myths and Facts about the Connection between HIV and AIDS
handout so that they will have a record of the facts.
 Myths about the Connection between HIV and AIDS
Myth: Since researchers do not know exactly how HIV destroys the immune system, it cannot
be proved that HIV causes AIDS.

Myth: AIDS is caused by risky behaviors such as having sex with many partners and
intravenous drug use, and not by HIV.

Myth: AIDS in Africa is simply a new name for old diseases.

Myth: If AIDS was caused by HIV, there would not be such a disproportionate impact on men.

Myth: If HIV caused AIDS, there would not be the range of opportunistic infections in different
population groups that are attributed to AIDS.

Myth: HIV does not cause the opportunistic infections and diseases attributed to AIDS
because there are people with these same infections that are not infected with HIV.

Myth: AIDS is caused by anti-retroviral drugs.

Myth: Humans develop a strong antibody response to HIV so the virus cannot cause AIDS.

Myth: Many persons with HIV infection do not develop AIDS, so HIV cannot be the cause of
AIDS.

Myth: Among blood transfusion recipients, it is the condition or disease that necessitated the
transfusion that causes AIDS and not HIV.

Myth: The antibody tests for HIV infection are unreliable.

 Myths and Facts about the
Connection between HIV and AIDS

Myth: Since researchers do not know exactly how HIV destroys the immune system, it cannot be
proved that HIV causes AIDS.

Fact: Although some details of HIV disease pathogenesis are still being worked out, the available
evidence is compelling to establish HIV as the cause of AIDS. Disease-causing infectious agents are
sometimes determined prior to the pathogenic mechanism being discovered or completely explained
when there are not precise animal models available, as has occurred with several diseases including
tuberculosis and hepatitis B, although the causative agents in these diseases are well-accepted.

Myth: AIDS is caused by risky behaviors such as having sex with many partners and intravenous drug
use, and not by HIV.

Fact: Research has provided compelling findings that engaging in risky sexual behaviors in the
absence of one partner being infected with HIV does not lead to new infections with HIV or AIDS.
Research has also provided compelling evidence that AIDS does not develop in intravenous drug
users who are HIV negative.

Myth: AIDS in Africa is simply a new name for old diseases.

Fact: Prior to the onset of the AIDS epidemic in Africa, wasting syndrome, diarrheal diseases, and
tuberculosis resulted in high mortality rates primarily in the elderly and undernourished. Now, high
mortality rates are also observed among young and middle-aged persons who are infected with HIV.

Myth: If AIDS was caused by HIV, there would not be such a disproportionate impact on men.

Fact: HIV has disproportionately occurred in men in the U.S. because the virus first infected
homosexual men and injection drug users who are more often men. HIV has spread to women in the
US through sex with HIV positive males or sharing contaminated needles. In other parts of the world,
most notably Africa, HIV was spread through male-female sex and thus occurred approximately
evenly in men and women.
Myth: If HIV caused AIDS, there would not be the range of opportunistic infections in different
population groups that are attributed to AIDS.

Fact: The opportunistic infections and diseases attributed to AIDS occur as a result of the immune
system suppression caused by HIV so that an individual is not able to fight off infections. The specific
infections that occur are a result of which viral, fungal, or bacterial infectious agents exist in a person’s
environment, so that opportunistic infections will vary by continent, country, and regions within a
country.

Myth: HIV does not cause the opportunistic infections and diseases attributed to AIDS because there
are people with these same infections that are not infected with HIV.

Fact: Other conditions and circumstances can also depress the immune system and allow
opportunistic infections to occur. Taking immune suppression drugs after organ transplants, for auto-
immune conditions, or as part of cancer treatments makes persons more susceptible to opportunistic
infections. The number of cases related to such medical treatment has not changed substantially,
while opportunistic infections and disease related to HIV infection has risen dramatically.

Myth: AIDS is caused by anti-retroviral drugs.

Fact: The great majority of persons with AIDS, especially those in poorer countries, did not take anti-
retroviral drugs prior to the licensure AZT in 1987, the first widely used anti-retroviral drug. Rigorous
placebo-control clinical trials have demonstrated that anti-retroviral drugs for HIV-infected persons
delayed progression to AIDS, and that persons with AIDS live longer. The anti-retroviral drugs can
have serious side effects, but there has been no evidence of immune system suppression similar to
that of AIDS.

Myth: Humans develop a strong antibody response to HIV so the virus cannot cause AIDS.

Fact: HIV has been found to mutate to escape the body’s ongoing immune response. Other virus, in
addition to HIV, have shown the capacity to continue to be harmful even after an immune response
develops. Such viruses include measles, herpes simplex, and varicella zoster, all of which can
become activated after years of dormancy and development of antibodies.

Myth: Many persons with HIV infection do not develop AIDS, so HIV cannot be the cause of AIDS.

Fact: The median time between infection with HIV and development of AIDS is 10 years for the most
common modes of transmission (male-to-male sex with infected partner, injection drug use with
contaminated needles, transfusion of infected blood or blood products). The time from HIV infection to
onset of AIDS varies and is influenced by individual host and virus characteristics. Extremely few HIV-
infected persons do not go on to develop AIDS.
Myth: Among blood transfusion recipients, it is the condition or disease that necessitated the
transfusion that causes AIDS and not HIV.

Fact: Research has provided compelling evidence that AIDS develops in transfusion recipients only
when they were infected with HIV.

Myth: The antibody tests for HIV infection are unreliable.

Fact: The antibody tests for HIV are some of the most reliable diagnostic tests that exist. Currently
used tests have been demonstrated to be over 98% sensitive (accurately detects infection) and
specific (accurately rules out infection).

Reference
Avert.org. The Evidence that HIV Causes AIDS. 2002. Retrieved on January 27, 2004 from
http://www.avert.org/evidence.htm