Comment by: Kris (Orlando, FL) Sat., Nov. 21, 2009 at 4:23 pm EST
I?m sorry to say, and sad that it is true but the Roman Catholic Church and other churches have a lot to be ashamed about.

Comment by: George Okazeke (Switzerland/origin Uganda) Tue., Nov. 17, 2009 at 1:07 am EST
the greatest myth I heard: when a man is HIV positive then he must have unprotected sex with a virgin and he will be cured, the virus will leave his body.

Comment by: Dan (Melbourne, AU) Fri., Nov. 13, 2009 at 7:46 am EST
Actually, the craziest myth I've ever heard is: "I'll be OK, it's NEVER gonna happen to me."

Comment by: Dan (Melbourne, AU) Fri., Nov. 13, 2009 at 7:40 am EST
The craziest myth I've ever heard is that Aids/HIV infection symptoms are caused not by the HIV but by sinful acts resulting in by demons possessing the body and that excorcism/"deliverance" by a pastor/minister will get rid of it all.

Comment by: true (northcarolina) Wed., Nov. 11, 2009 at 6:47 pm EST
the craziest myth I ever heard, was if you had sex outside, that hiv/aids will die once it hits air, or that you have to have unprotected sex more than once with a person to catch it

Comment by: dr george pradhaan, mbbs/ind (VisakhaPatnamCity,ind.) Wed., Nov. 11, 2009 at 8:11 am EST
friends, the simple way to face these problems an doubts is to open a small community center in a thatched hut, with mats and stools, and live and move with a few PLWHA and PDWHA . I eat out of my friends plates and of their cups and kiss them on the mouth jus to show all and everybody that saliva is safe. All the body fluids do have the germ. but to what quantity and quality to be infectious to others.This is the message we have to demonstrate. Comfort to the mind and soul are the ultimate therapy, after all the mighty HAART have done their good job.

Comment by: J (vegas) Mon., Nov. 9, 2009 at 3:24 am EST
Living with HIV. I'm extremly annoyed and angry with the ignorance! When I try to date, its unbelievable how ignorant so many are,they think they can avoid getting HIV by simply asking a sexual partner of their status. They willingly have unprotected sex based on a response and promise! Teenagers in high school are not being taught low risk behavior instead an unrealistic propaganda for abstinence, I wouldn't be dealing with the prejudism and ignorance of so many ignorant people I meet sexually and non sexually if our government stopped arguing over irrelevant opinions and faced the reality that sex is natural and risky behavior isn't going to stop in the name of abstinence! Sexual education fails in our high schools because of puritan propaganda. Sorry to dissapoint religious advocates but humans have been having sex long before and will be long after HIV. Spare me the ignorance and let's focus on what is practical. We are a sexual species. When I jump in my car I wear my seatbelt. I don't believe the seatbelt is going to eleminate my risk of dieing in a car accident. Use a condom even if you trust your sexual partner. Risk education needs to be pounded into the heads of young adults and anyone sexually mature who didn't get the memo.

Comment by: diana D (key WEst Florida) Mon., Oct. 19, 2009 at 7:36 am EDT
I am concerned that some one will actually follow the advice not to take meds because they think that's what causes aids.... I have been positive for 25 years. I was very resistant to taking the medications. Even after watching my brother die with aids and dementia. I have gone from 0 tcells and toxoplasmosis to having 600 and doing well. I have had much problems taking the meds due to side effects. I have been off for nearly three years. My last t count was 57. I started meds last week .. I am very sick but I know that I will get better as my counts go up..yes they are toxic and yes they are hard for me to take.. BUT yes they save lives and I know from personal experience that Hiv is not caused by meds... and the only hope I have of living is to bite the bullet and take them... I hope if you are considering weather or not to take them you choose life.. and take them... bless us all ....

Comment by: Genevieve Rohan (Fresno, Ca) Mon., Jul. 27, 2009 at 12:17 pm EDT
I am an HIV provider. I received a call from an apartment landlord who wanted to know how to go about disinfecting his apartment complex swimming pool because a complex resident -- who had made her status public -- had been swimming in the pool!

Comment by: Genene (Addis Aababa, Ethiopia) Thu., Jul. 9, 2009 at 9:33 am EDT
The craziest myth I heard about HIV is that there is no HIV or HIV will not be transmitted after 4 at night.

Comment by: marie (texas) Tue., Jun. 23, 2009 at 11:17 pm EDT
it aint nobody problem that we all have diease but we learn from being burn and being kill from infection sperm how many decades its going take us to see that a condom may promise us life but with diease we have to put up a fight our lifes is in the hands of medicine

Comment by: Mawethu Maholwana (South Africa) Sat., Jun. 20, 2009 at 1:09 pm EDT
HIV gets those who does not believe in God or Ancestors, they start to Pray or do traditional ceremonies when sick.

Comment by: Mark Gama (Malawi (+265)) Wed., Jun. 10, 2009 at 10:55 am EDT
The craziest myth I come across in counseling is that most HIV+ think that if they are infected they will start drinking alcohol to make the virus drunk thereby reducing the strings of the virus.

Comment by: ezelagbo (Nigeria) Tue., May. 26, 2009 at 9:52 am EDT
The greatest myth in Nigeria is the belief that HIV can be transmitted through some spiritual means by an enemy. Its unfortunate because it makes people dwell on the wrong belief and they don't change their sexual behaviour that puts them at risk of HIV infection

Comment by: Hayes Grant (INDIANA) Wed., Apr. 29, 2009 at 10:58 am EDT
i THINK PEOPLE SHOULD JUST ALWAYS PROTECT THEM SELF NO MATTER WHAT! NOW A CURE THERE ONLY ONE CURE JESUS"!!!!!!!

Comment by: Harvett (East Cleveland, OH) Thu., Apr. 23, 2009 at 2:03 pm EDT
The worst myth I heard was that you can look at someone and tell. No way, I had a nurse ask me,"How can you tell if someone has HIV?" I told her you can't. Unless GOD gives you signs -- you will never know. One thing I can tell you that some people with HIV will say things like this: I take vitamins, My blood pressure medicine is making me tired (of course the toxicity of the medicines will have pressure on your blood, but it not medicine for hypertension). Oh the last thing, I took an HIV test, it was negative, positive then negative again. Being in Atlanta, and elsewhere has taught me a lot. You all are foolish if you are not scared.

Comment by: Derick (chicago) Mon., Apr. 6, 2009 at 3:50 pm EDT
There are so many myths about HIV. It's important to understand that you cannot get rid of HIV by having sex with ANYONE! It's important to also understand that if you have unprotected sex with an HIV positive person and you're negative and you don't get HIV, this DOES NOT MEAN THAT HIV IS not a transmittable disease!! IT could mean many things. There are some people who do NOT get infected with HIV because of their immune system.Other people who are positive don't transmit HIV easily cause they are undetectable. It think people believe all sorts of untrue things about HIV because they don't understand HIV. Learn about HIV and you won't be full of myths about it!

Comment by: Myth in the Making! Here's A Crazy Myth! Sat., Mar. 14, 2009 at 5:13 am EDT
EXAMPLE OF AIDS MYTH!!!!!!!!How long are we going to keep this up? All you have to do is to look at both sides of the argument to see that we are not dying from so called AIDS. But we keep doing the same thing over and over looking for a different result. The so called AIDS virus has never been properly isolated. This so called AIDS virus, HIV, was originally investigated as a cancer virus. That is it was believed to caused the wild uncontrolled growth of cells. Now its being investigated for the death of T cells! Come on people, wake up! Originally it attacked homosexuals. The fast lane ones who used drugs and were very promiscuous in their sexual practices. And the ones who got sick all used "poppers" and they all had Karposi's Sarcoma and/or Pnemocystis Carini Pneumonia. It was called GRIDS in the beginning... Gay Related Immune Deficiency Syndrome. PCP and KS were the two survalence marker diseases. We expanded the definition to include a lot more diseases including this so called "HIV test" and the counting of T cells so that it appears that the new epidemic which we now call AIDS is still alive. Wake up! How can a virus choose to attack only Gay white men in the begining now attack mostly Black females? A virus can't do that. Its has no brains! How can a virus remain dormant for 10 to 25 years and then all of a sudden come alive and give you AIDS? Come on people THINK! One organization lists more than 166 symptoms for AIDS. As a matter of fact they (Patients Like You) list AIDS as a side effect for AIDS! Now that's scary. I met a lot of so called HIV positive people who think they are different because they never got treated with those antiretroviral drugs and never got sick. Truth be told no one will get sick if we would only stop the MEDS! It seems we have the ability to question anything as long as a guy in a white coat with some long initials after his name is not the one saying it.

Comment by: nana (cincinnati) Thu., Mar. 5, 2009 at 10:44 am EST
i wonder if some of these are actually true?? but most of them sounds like myths.... if any one can answer i want to know the max number of years one can live with hiv.

Comment by: pk (houston,tx) Thu., Feb. 26, 2009 at 11:49 am EST
Aids is real and people think just because they aren't sick that they don't have the disease. There is a man in houston who has had aids for 11 yrs now. his wife and two of his kids are hiv positive. his wife died this yr and his other partners have to take medicine and he has never took a drop of medicine or gotten sick so he claims he doesn't have it and continues to sleep with different women. He is what we called a carrier of this disease. you really need to read into what the disease is and how it works in different people cause it's not the same for everyone. some people can fight off the virus and most can't but rarely there are people who's viral load count is so low it doesn't detect the virus in their body for years and years. so be careful and practice safe sex cause it's possible you can be living with it now but don't know it. I stay getting tested and i've been with my partner for over 4 yrs. anyone can make a mistake and pass it on but it takes a human being with a heart to stop the spread of it.

Comment by: E (NYC) Tue., Feb. 17, 2009 at 9:08 am EST
Hi Marshall You're playing with fire! If you're having unprotected sex with positive women you can get infected! It takes an average of 10 years for someone with HIV to show a symptom. Are they seeing a doctor? There are free clinics for people with HIV throughout the U.S. It is possible that they are what's called nonprogressors--meaning that they have HIV but their body takes care of it. But it is unlikely since only 2% of people with HIV are nonprogressors. If you care about these women you will make sure that they see a doctor and if they need treatment they get it. This treatment, contrary to rumors, is lifesaving! If you care about yourself, you'll get tested for HIV and stop playing with fire and having unprotected sex with postiive women unless you really want to get it!

Comment by: Marshall Sandefur (Atlanta, Ga) Tue., Feb. 17, 2009 at 5:12 am EST
hey, Eli Dancy. I have been having sex with two women who are HIV positive for almost 10 years. No one got treated and no one is sick. Why do you think this is so?

Comment by: Samrawit Mengistu (Ethiopia ) Wed., Feb. 11, 2009 at 12:24 am EST
You know it is really hard for me by the time i heard..... that people with the virus at some areas of Ethiopia make sex by force with about 10 girls to get cured of it. and i think it has been practiced for a long time, which is really weird.

Comment by: Tony (LA) Mon., Feb. 9, 2009 at 6:06 pm EST
One possible myth that even the doctors on this site promote is that CD4 count of someone on HARRT is an accurate assessment on the whether they are in danger of immune failure. A recent study found no correlation between higher CD4 count as a result of HARRT, and a decreased chanced of immune failure. In other words, the meds may have boosted their CD4 count, but they are still just as likely to die from AIDS as someone with poor CD4 count. read all about it: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18989232

Comment by: george (ohio) Tue., Feb. 3, 2009 at 9:32 pm EST
Crazy myths that I've heard is that you shouldn't put on condoms cause there are worms inside of them. Or that puritanical Americans made up AIDS just to stop people from having to much sex. They say that AIDS stands for America's Idea to Discourage Sex. I also heard some denialist nuts say that condoms cause penis cancer and one last myth that is real popular...HIV isn't a danger for heterosexuals...

Comment by: trinidadian girl (trinidad) Tue., Feb. 3, 2009 at 9:03 am EST
the worst myth i ever heard in my country is that you can only get HIV if you have sex with someone who has full blown aids. A lot of young people believe that and it has contributed to the spread if the desease.

Comment by: LATRESE ALLEN (Bradenton, Florida) Thu., Jan. 29, 2009 at 10:23 pm EST
The craziest thing I ever heard is: My friend had sex with a guy that has H.I.V. and we told her he had it. "She replied he can't have it I had sex with him."

Comment by: agyemang (tamale, ghana) Tue., Jan. 27, 2009 at 7:18 am EST
the myth craziest myth about AIDS that l've heard is that you get AIDS when in the process of having sex with your partner, she releases air from the anus.

Comment by: Kaka John (Kampala, Uganda) Wed., Jan. 21, 2009 at 6:06 am EST
Sounds funny, but has been claimed by some evangelists; that one can prayed for and be healed of the HIV infection! Crazy isn't it?

Comment by: george (alabama) Fri., Jan. 16, 2009 at 9:22 pm EST
the craziest myth I heard is from a teacher who said that there are lots of unknown ways you can get HIV. She had a friend, in fact, who got it this way. Also these people who say that HIV is not a disease that will kill you, that the HIV drugs will kill you (fools like Gary Null and duesberg). that all the drug companies are evil and making drugs that kill you. the paranoi is really amazing!

Comment by: Patrick Archer (Redding California) Thu., Jan. 15, 2009 at 9:13 pm EST
The craziest myth I ever heard was back in about 1989 when I lived on a private lake in a very small town in Michigan and the neighbors were telling each other that I probably pee in the lake when I'm fishing, so the fish have HIV/AIDS.

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