HIV vaccine: five damaging Aids myths During his 2006 rape trial the current South African President Jacob Zuma revealed that he showered after having sex with an HIV-positive woman to reduce the risk of infection. The politician's views were condemned as ignorant and irresponsible in a country where more than five million people have Aids.
In the late 1980s rumours began to circulate claiming that Aids had been created by the US government as a biological weapon. There were various conflicting theories about who the CIA wished to target – Russians, homosexuals or Russians – and whether the disease was deliberately released or slipped out by mistake. No convincing evidence has been presented to support any of the claims.
The side-effects experienced by some people on HIV medication have led to questions about whether they do more harm than good. It has even been suggested that they are "toxic" and damage the human immune system, making patients more susceptible to contracting full-blown Aids. But large-scale statistical studies have shown that antiretroviral drugs substantially lower death rates.
Potentially fatal diseases such as malaria and yellow fever can be contracted through mosquito bites, so why not Aids? The crucial difference is how the diseases are transmitted. The insects inject saliva but not blood into their victims, and unlike malaria and yellow fever, Aids does not exist in saliva.

