Several polls unveiled on the occasion of World AIDS Day show that preconceived ideas about HIV are still too numerous.
Since the identification of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) by Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier in 1983, there are an estimated 36.7 million people living with HIV in the world. Every day around the world, 3,000 people die of AIDS. However, the number of infections has dropped considerably in recent years, since according to a UNAIDS report published last July, 1.8 million people were newly infected with HIV worldwide in 2016, i.e. two times less than in 2015 (2.1 million). If this decline is explained by the effectiveness of antiretroviral treatments and by massive prevention campaigns, many preconceived ideas continue to circulate around AIDS. On the occasion of World AIDS Day, which took place this Friday, December 01, we take stock of some popular beliefs that have died out.
AIDS only affects homosexuals and men
While it is true that the incidence rate of the AIDS virus is twice as high among homosexuals than among heterosexuals, the disease does not spare the latter. Nor is it just a disease of men, since 51% of people living with HIV in the world are women (of which 60% are from sub-Saharan Africa).
HIV is transmitted through all of our bodily fluids
Even if in theory the AIDS virus is present in all bodily fluids, its concentration remains too low to be transmitted through saliva, sweat or tears. On the other hand, any contact with contaminated blood, semen or seminal fluid (fluid secreted during an erection) can lead to contamination. In other words, you won’t be in danger swapping your saliva with another person during a kiss or washing in communal showers.
On the other hand, the risks are high in the event of unprotected sex with one or more partners not screened, or when the mucous membranes are infected by open wounds (during a fellatio for example). The technique of “withdrawal”, which consists of stopping sexual penetration before ejaculation does not protect against AIDS.
Sex with an HIV-positive person is risky
According to a survey carried out for the Aides association by the CSA institute, the results of which were revealed on Tuesday by Franceinfo, 87% of French people surveyed consider that having sex with an HIV-positive person on treatment constitutes a high risk. . However, an HIV-positive person “who takes his treatment correctly and dhave had the viral load said to be “undetectable” for more than six months, cannot transmit the virus“, highlighted The report. According to the World Health Organization, 21 million AIDS deaths worldwide could be prevented (along with 28 million new infections by 2030) if everyone with HIV was placed on antiretrovirals immediately.
You don’t need to be tested if you protect yourself during sex
According to a survey from the Terpan laboratory, 7 in 10 French people believe that they do not need to be tested since they protect themselves during their sexual relations. However, the bulletin of Public Health France indicates that 25,000 people are carriers of HIV without knowing it. “AIDS concerns everyone, all generations, heterosexuals, homosexuals, men, women”, recalls Kamal Yahiaoui, president of the Terpan laboratory, quoted by RTL.
There is an AIDS vaccine
One of the reasons some people feel that it is not always to get tested could be the belief that a vaccine exists to prevent AIDS. Indeed, according to an Ifop / Fiducial survey made for South Radio and CNews, 18% of French people think that there is a vaccine to prevent the transmission of the AIDS virus. They are also 70% to declare to be afraid of this disease. While medical research has advanced considerably towards an AIDS vaccine, no one has yet developed an effective vaccine to eradicate the disease.
Recent experiments, however, have led to promising leads, like that of French researchers Christian Rochet and Morgane Bomsel. Scientists have been working for 15 years on the development of a vaccine to block the virus on the surface of the mucous membranes, instead of the blood, like vaccines previously tried.
So far, this vaccine has been tested on humans, rodents and primates. “We had 100% efficiency for the tests on monkeys, which was the first time in the world … And then we did on humans in Belgium and there we had, 8 times out of 8, in vitro , that is to say in a test tube, neutralization of the virus “, explained Christian Rochet at the microphone of RTL, before adding that the experiment in phase 2 should start soon.
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