Immediate Death

• Perhaps the most widely believed myth and the one that has the least truth is that anyone with HIV or AIDS is terminally ill. Most people can live for several decades before getting seriously ill, and medicine available today is allowing people to live longer and longer.
  
  

HIV Infection and Children

• Upon diagnosis, most people believe that the option of having children is gone. This may have been true in the past, but now it is possible to have children while HIV positive. There is almost no risk to the child, who can be born completely HIV-free.
  
  

Affected Portions of Society

• It's still believed today that HIV and AIDS only effects homosexuals and drug addicts. HIV infects people of any sexual orientation, of all colors and at all socio-economic status and education levels. Both men and women are able to transmit the virus to members of either sex.
  
  

Difference Between HIV and AIDS

• A common myth is that HIV and AIDS are the same, and this couldn't be further from the truth. HIV is simply a virus, even if it is the virus that causes AIDS. AIDS is a syndrome, requiring a collection of infections and cancers in conjunction with a very low CD4 count and high virus load for diagnosis.
  
  

Treatment

• A number of myths exist in regards to treatment, and many of these can be quite dangerous. False beliefs that treatment will "cure" HIV infection or render an individual unable to pass it to others and that treatments aren't necessary because HIV doesn't really cause AIDS can result in faster disease progression and the spreading of HIV infections.