He never thought his life would be turned upside down by the prick of a needle.
The 36-year-old man, who asked to be identified only by his surname Xu, has yet to recover from the shock he got after being pricked while in a Beijing taxi in August. The syringe had been left sticking out of the magazine rack behind the front seat and it stuck Xu in the leg. It contained some yellow liquid that was later tested as containing HIV antibodies.
Subsequent tests over the next three months cleared Xu of HIV/AIDS, but he said his life was completely disrupted. His girlfriend left him and he had to quit his job because of the emotional distress the incident caused him.
"I had heard stories about people using syringes contaminated with HIV to spread the disease but I never thought it would happen to me," said Xu.
The police have yet to find out where the syringe came from and whether someone was indeed trying to intentionally spread HIV.
Over the years there have been many concerns and stories about the intentional transmission of the disease, but most weren't substantiated.
While both willful and negligent transmissions do happen, people working in HIV/AIDS prevention caution against exaggerating such fear and point to the stigma and discrimination associated with the disease as the root of the issue.
Discrimination leads to revenge
Every year, reports surface claiming that some people have placed blood from AIDS patients into food or have injected others with contaminated needles. However, these are usually refuted as rumors.
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