Myths about HIV

You can catch HIV from kissing

Only some body fluids contain enough HIV to pass on the virus. These fluids are blood, cum and pre-cum. Although spit, sweat and piss can contain the virus, they don’t have enough to infect someone.

Oral sex is safe.

Oral sex is much less risky but there is still a small chance that HIV could enter the bloodstream through cuts, sores or ulcers that occur in your mouth or on your cock.

I’d know if I had HIV.

Not everybody who gets infected with HIV will get symptoms and if they do they may just be like flu. The only way to know for sure is by having an HIV test. You can read more about HIV testing on page 15.

There is a cure.

There is still no cure for HIV. There are drugs that help keep it under control but they don’t always work, have to be taken every day and won’t completely get rid of the virus. So once you’ve got HIV, you’ve got it for the rest of your life.

HIV is a death sentence.

Advances in treatments mean that HIV can be lived with and hopefully won’t result in an early death. But it’s a fact that the Northwest has the most HIV related deaths in the UK. So, if you have HIV you need to look after your health otherwise your body’s immune system won’t be able to fight infections and you might end up with serious life-threatening illnesses.