Because the worldwide spread of AIDS has had such a tragic effect on millions of people world-wide, a number of myths, urban legends, and conspiracy theories have arisen surrounding the disease. The Red Ribbon symbol is used internationally to represent the fight against AIDS. AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, rarely written Aids) is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus HIV, a lentivirus [1]. By leading to the destruction and/or functional impairment of cells of the immune... For the computer game, see Myth (computer game). ... Urban legends are a kind of folklore consisting of stories often thought to be factual by those circulating them. ...

• An urban legend, common in some parts of Africa, claims that having sexual intercourse with a virgin will cure AIDS. Doing so does not cure the infected person. Rather, it exposes the victim to the risk of HIV infection and likely leads to further spread of the disease. This myth has gained considerable notoriety, having been seen at the center of certain recent stories involving sexual abuse and child rape.

• A misconception holds that a single person, a French Canadian flight attendant, introduced HIV to North America. For information on this belief, see Patient Zero.

• "Green Monkeys" living in Africa caused AIDS (an idea that has been proven false many times but is still considered true)

• A common myth that originated in the 1980s is that AIDS is a "gay plague". Variants of this myth include the misconception that only gays can get AIDS, and the incorrect perception that gays brought AIDS to the world, or to North America. During the early 1980s, the disease's disproportionate occurrence within the gay community led some Christian fundamentalists to brand AIDS the "gay plague", a device used by God to show his "displeasure" with homosexual behaviour. This view was based upon a traditional Biblical interpretation that homosexual activity is a sin. Conservative religious spokespersons such as Jerry Falwell touched off considerable controversy when they described AIDS as God's way of punishing homosexuals. Opponents argued that, if this were true, hemophilia would be a sin and God would love lesbians (who have a lower incidence of AIDS than either gay men or heterosexuals of either sex).

• There have been reports that blood-sucking insects transmit HIV. However, there is no evidence for this. There is therefore no need to fear catching HIV from a mosquito bite. When mosquitos bite a person, they don't inject the blood of a previous victim into the person they bite next. Mosquitos do, however, inject saliva into their victims, which may infect them with diseases such as dengue, malaria, yellow fever or West Nile, but not HIV.

• HIV and oral sex: in some circles it is commonly believed, incorrectly, that HIV cannot be transmitted orally. While it is agreed that oral sex is a very much lower risk activity than vaginal and anal sex it has been established that HIV can be transmitted through both insertive and receptive oral sex. An insidious danger of this myth is that it results in increased practice of unprotected oral sex. Even if the risk of infection is very small from a single encounter, it increases with frequency of activity. The perpetuation of the "oral sex is safe" myth probably is driven by the fact that people typically find oral sex far less pleasurable with a condom or dental dam, and consequently cognitive bias inclines people to believe it is safe. The perception is also affected by available information which is sometimes unclear: studies have reported different conclusions about the safety of oral sex. Nevertheless, the practice remains widespread, particularly amongst homosexual men, and there have been relatively few proven seroconversions as a result.

• Some believe that early black men had sexual intercourse with monkeys in Africa causing them to start the virus in modern humans. They claim it was brought to North America when they were brought over as slaves.

Perhaps some of these myths serve as a psychological mechanism for people to cope with the epidemic, or perhaps, in some cases, as a device to lay blame on someone for the epidemic. Africa is the worlds second-largest continent and third most populous. ... A virgin is most commonly seen as a person who has not engaged in sexual intercourse. ... Sexual abuse is physical or psychological abuse or harm that involves sexual behavior. ... Sexual abuse is physical or psychological abuse or harm that involves sexual behavior. ... In general, the term Patient Zero refers to the central or initial patient in the population sample of an epidemiological investigation. ... 1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... // Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 60s and 70s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ... In its simplist form, a Christian is a follower of and a believer in Jesus of Nazareth. ... Fundamentalism is a movement to maintain strict adherence to founding principles. ... Jerry L. Falwell (born August 11, 1933) is an American Baptist pastor, televangelist, founder of the Moral Majority & Liberty University, and a prominent Conservative activist. ... Haemophilia or hemophilia is the name of any of several hereditary genetic illnesses that impair the bodys ability to control bleeding. ... An Anopheles stephensi mosquito obtaining a blood meal from a human host through its pointed proboscis. ... Genera See text. ... For music group see Dengue Fever (rock band) Dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) are acute febrile diseases, found in the tropics, with a geographical spread similar to malaria. ... Red blood cell infected with Malaria (Italian: bad air; formerly called ague or marsh fever in English) is an infectious disease which in humans causes about 350-500 million infections and approxomately 1. ... West Nile virus is a newly emergent virus of the family Flaviviridae, found in both tropical and temperate regions. ... Cognitive bias is any of a wide range of observer effects identified in cognitive science, including very basic statistical and memory errors that are common to all human beings and drastically skew the reliability of anecdotal and legal evidence. ... The missionary position is the most common position for sexual intercourse in humans The cowgirl sex position is a good position for kissing, caressing, and embracing of the paramour The Doggy position is thus named because canines as well as most other mammals use this position. ... For the TV show Monkey see Monkey (TV series) Cynomolgus Monkey at Batu Caves, Malaysia A monkey is any member of two of the three groupings of simian primates. ... Africa is the worlds second-largest continent and third most populous. ... Three types of viruses: a bacterial virus, otherwise called a bacteriophage (left center); an animal virus (top right); and a retrovirus (bottom right). ... Human beings are defined variously in biological, spiritual, and cultural terms, or in combinations thereof. ... World map showing location of North America A satellite composite image of North America North America is a continent in the northern hemisphere, bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west... A monument celebrating the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire in 1834, erected in Victoria Tower Gardens, Millbank, Westminster, London Wiktionary has a definition of: Slavery Slavery can mean one or more related conditions which involve control of a person against his or her will, enforced by violence or...