Viewing HIV as a weapon is risky

Don’t you hate it when a coworker shows up at work sick as a dog?

“I hab a terribul flu,” they sputter, as you frantically reach for the bottle of antibacterial gel you permanently keep on your desk now because it seems more and more people are deciding their need to prove their indispensability trumps your right to a virus-free zone.

I thought of this as I listened to reports on the trial of Johnson Aziga, the 52-year-old being prosecuted for murder for allegedly having unprotected sex without telling sexual partners he was HIV-positive. Two of these women died of AIDS.



The only difference between the flu and the HIV virus is that one is airborne and one is sexually transmitted. But I have yet to see a case of someone being charged with attempted murder for spreading the flu virus to someone who then died of the flu (over 6,000 Canadians die of the flu annually compared to about 300 of AIDS). I understand that HIV, unlike the flu, is incurable, and that a life on antiviral drugs is no picnic. And granted, being airborne, it is harder to track down the flu virus carrier, but there is still something wrong with this picture.

In the case of the flu, we take precautions. We get vaccinated. We carry around buckets of Purell. In the case of HIV, we use condoms. Yes, Aziga told these women he wasn’t HIV-positive. But they simply took his word and had unprotected sex with him. I’m sorry but unless I see a piece of paper with test results, my partner’s wearing a rubber. If I don’t insist on this, I’m responsible for taking that risk, no matter what my partner has told me. Unless it’s a case of rape, where the victim has no choice, we must bear some personal responsibility for the consequences of our sexual choices.

As utterly horrific as what this man has done was, I can’t help but think that the legal reaction is more tied into our often-exaggerated fear of AIDS and our moral judgments when it comes to sexuality and the implied promiscuity we assume when it comes to Sexually Transmitted Infections.

Remember those stories in the early days of AIDS where someone would sleep with a stranger and wake up to find the message “Welcome to the wonderful world of AIDS!” scrawled on the bathroom mirror in lipstick or delivered in a tiny gift-wrapped coffin?

Marianne H. Whatley, co-author of Did You Hear About the Girl Who…?: Contemporary Legends, Folklore, & Human Sexuality says that urban myths like this reveal our irrational fears when it comes to sexuality.

What Aziga did was no urban myth. It was very real, very heinous and very illegal (it is illegal to knowingly pass along an STD). But a virus as a murder weapon? That sounds more like science fiction to me.

Posted in: Science info