Myth or Fact?

At the age of 23, I thought I knew everything that there is to know about HIV and AIDS.

But to my surprise after visiting Union Positiva and speaking to the program manager, Christian Ocon, he taught me a few more things that left with me my jaw open.

By now people are aware of how HIV and AIDS is transmitted thanks to Public Service Announcements and AIDS awareness seminars taught in grade school and college.

Many people are aware of the different ways in which HIV/AIDS can be transmitted such as the exchange of bodily fluids: semen, breast milk, vaginal secretions and blood.

A myth, however, is that HIV/AIDS could be transmitted through casual contact or saliva.

“You would need to drink a gallon of saliva in order to get infected,” said Ocon.

However, it’s important to note that although saliva will not get you infected, blood can and sometimes open sores have blood.

An interesting fact that I learned during my visit to Union Positiva is that everyone does not get infected the first time they are exposed to HIV/AIDS.

“Contracting HIV/AIDS, can be compared to a pregnancy,” said Ocon.

In other words, what Ocon was trying to make me understand is that HIV work in the same way that pregancies work. Some women are extremely fertile and get pregnant the first time they have unprotected sex. While on the other hand, there are some women that are infertile.

With that idea in mind, some individuals may be exposed to the disease and not get HIV, while there are those that may acquire HIV the very first time the are expose to it.

Regardless, I still think that exposing oneself would be a huge mistake because it’s impossible to know how the body will react to such exposure.

Another interesting anecdote that Ocon shared with me was the story about an 18-year-old man, who was diagnosed with HIV and none of the medication prescribed worked.

What doctors did not know is that the reason the preliminary medications didn’t work on the young man was because the person who infected him had already acquired all the resistances to combating the drug that is generally prescribed to “new“ HIV patients.

So basically the 18-year-old not only had HIV, but he also had the resistances of his HIV donor. In the end, doctors had to prescribe the young man a stronger and more effective medication to control the deadly disease.