A LOT has been done to educate more Filipinos about human immunodeficiency virus-acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV-Aids). However, it seems like knowledge and correct information on HIV-Aids has not reached every Filipinos out there.
“Ayaw usa mog kaon isda ha ky delikado ang dagat ron ky naay mga tube gikan hospital glabay sa dagat unya mga HIV-Aids patient ang mga tag-iya atong mga dugo nkatag sa dagat. Please spread. God bless us all. (Avoid eating fish this time due to the contamination coming from medical wastes that include tubes with blood of HIV-Aids patients. Please spread. God bless us all).”
This message was being passed on from one misinformed person to another as they worry that they may contract HIV after eating fish. Fish taken from polluted or contaminated waters is dangerous and you may get other health complications but you won't get HIV.
According to the Department of Health, HIV is “passed on to another person through infected blood like blood-stained needles/medical instrumentations, sexual contacts between casual acquaintances or with strangers/multiple partners, or partners of infected OFW, sharing of needles among drug users or accidental needle pricking or trauma among health professionals.”
Aside from blood, HIV is also transmitted by the following body fluids from a person who has HIV: semen, pre-seminal fluids, rectal fluids, vaginal fluids, and breast milk.
The disease is not airborne nor waterborne. It cannot be passed through saliva, sweat, or a kiss. It definitely cannot be passed by eating fish.
The rising number of HIV/Aids cases in the country is already alarming. With how the quoted message was being spread from one person to another last week is also alarming. Alarming in a way that despite the efforts made to educate people on HIV/Aids, there are still those who have the wrong information about it.
It may be time now to review the current education campaigns on HIV/Aids to ensure that everyone is made aware of it and better understand it.