Aids Myth: Hiv/Aids is Something Only Gay People Encounter
AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and was first discovered in the early 1980's. This disease weakens the immune system and makes it harder for the body to fight infections. Ever since this disease was first discovered, there have been many myths about it. One of those myths is that only gay people encounter AIDS. The reason many people think that only gay people can get this disease is because when it was first discovered, most of the people affected with it were homosexual men. In recent years, it has been discovered that heterosexual people are just as susceptible to AIDS as homosexuals are.
Many people do not understand how AIDS develops. AIDS comes from a virus known as Human Immunodeficiency Virus, also referred to as HIV. HIV can passed from person to person through infected blood, semen and breast milk. There are three main ways that a person gets the HIV virus through sexual contact, through a mother passing it down to her infant during delivery or by breast feeding and through infected needles. The most common way that HIV is passed is through sexual contact and that includes anal and oral. In fact, most of today's AIDS cases are a direct result of male and female sexual intercourse. That further dispels the myth that AIDS is a gay-only disease.
Because many individuals truly believe that because they are straight they cannot get AIDS, they engage in reckless behavior such as unprotected sex and the sharing of needles. However, it is time that people wake up and understand that AIDS does not care whether one is gay or straight. If a person wants to avoid catching AIDS, he or she will have to take the necessary precautions to avoid it. One of the things that a person can do to reduce the risk of developing AIDS is wear a condom during all sexual acts. It must be noted that condoms greatly reduce the risk of catching this disease, but they are not 100%. That is why if one is unsure of his or her partner's HIV status, it is best to avoid having any type of sexual intercourse with him or her.
Another thing that a person can do to avoid catching AIDS is avoid the sharing of needles. Health care workers are at increased risk of coming in contact with AIDS, so they should always wear gloves when drawing blood or performing a transfusion. Again, it must be reiterated, that AIDS is something that can happen to anyone, regardless of his or her sexual orientation. Therefore, people should no longer refer to it as a gay-disease because today there are more straight people than ever who are living with it.