In the area of public awareness of AIDS, there is an extremely widespread and dangerous misconception that “HIV can only be transmitted through sex”. This one-sided perception makes it easier to ignore other important means of transmission when preventing AIDS, thereby increasing the risk of infection unconsciously.
It is true that HIV can be transmitted through sexual contact, including same-sex and heterosexual sex. In unprotected sex, the virus enters the human body through broken mucus or skin. However, sexual transmission is only one part of the path to AIDS.
Blood transmission is another major route of transmission of AIDS. For example, sharing unsterilized injecting drug use is one of the high-risk behaviours leading to the spread of AIDS. In some drug-abusing groups, as a result of the reuse of syringes, if the last user is infected with the virus, the virus in his blood will remain in the syringe and, when the next user uses it, the virus will enter the body and cause infection. In addition, the input of blood or blood products containing HIV can lead to infection. In the past, there have been cases of HIV infection due to blood transfusions due to inadequate blood screening techniques. Today, although blood testing techniques have improved significantly, there is still a very small risk of a “window period” when the initial virus has not yet produced detectable signs in the blood, at which point the recipient of the blood transfusion may be infected.
Mother-to-child transmission should also not be overlooked. Mothers infected with HIV are likely to transmit the virus to their babies during pregnancy, childbirth or through breastfeeding. During pregnancy, if the HIV virus in the mother is not effectively contained, the virus enters the foetus through a placenta barrier. During childbirth, fetuses are exposed to virus-containing body fluids such as mother ‘ s blood, sheep water and so forth. The HIV virus in milk can also be transmitted to infants after breastfeeding. However, with the development of medicine, the risk of mother-to-child transmission can be significantly reduced through effective mother-to-child disruption measures such as antiviral treatment during pregnancy, cervix and the avoidance of breastfeeding.
In addition to the three main means of transmission described above, a number of other special circumstances may lead to the spread of HIV. For example, in a medical environment, if medical devices are contaminated with HIV and are not strictly sterilized, the virus may enter the patient during intrusive operations such as surgery, dental treatment, acupuncture, etc. Although there are strict sterilization norms and operating procedures in regular health-care facilities to avoid such situations, the risk persists in some illegal medical practice or in poorly equipped medical facilities.
Unforeseen blood contact can also cause concern in daily life. For example, there is a theoretical risk of infection if the user is an HIV-infected person, although the probability is extremely low, if he/she is scratched or stabbed in a public place by a potentially blood-stained object, such as a razor blade or toothbrush.
In real terms, there is also a percentage of cases of infection due to non-sexual transmission in areas with a high incidence of AIDS. The high number of people living with AIDS as a result of the sharing of syringes in some communities with high levels of drug abuse poses a major challenge to local public health and social stability. At the same time, the lack of effective control of mother-to-child transmission will lead to the spread of the epidemic among children, seriously affecting the healthy growth of the next generation.
In order to prevent AIDS more comprehensively and effectively, we cannot limit ourselves to preventing sexual transmission. In daily life, there is a strong commitment to eliminate dangerous behaviours such as the sharing of syringes; in medical behaviour, the choice of regular medical facilities is made to ensure the safety of medical devices; and in the case of HIV-infected mothers, medical doctors are actively involved in the treatment of mother-to-child interruptions. At the same time, the overall reduction of the risk of transmission of AIDS and the protection of the health and safety of society as a whole will be achieved by making AIDS more widely known, eliminating discrimination against people living with AIDS, increasing awareness of the ways in which it is transmitted and raising awareness of self-protection.
