AIDS From Contaminated Take Away Food Warning

Summary:
Message claims that a ten-year-old boy was diagnosed with AIDS after eating take-away food contaminated with blood from a cook who already had the illness (Full commentary below.).



Status:
False

Example 1:(Submitted April 2006)
Example 2:(Submitted April 2006)
Example 3:(Submitted June 2006)


Commentary:
This message warns that a child has been diagnosed with AIDS after consuming takeaway food contaminated with infected blood. There are at least three different versions of the message. One claims that the contaminated blood was in the sauce on a takeaway burger. Another claims that it was included in a serve of panipuri, a popular Indian food often sold in roadside stalls. Yet another claims that the blood had spread into pineapple.

Like many such emailed warnings, the details are both vague and unsubstantiated. The child or family is not named, nor are any confirmation sources included. Extensive research reveals no credible reports that back up the claims in the message in any way. The warnings are dismissed as untrue in a 2005 article published on GulfNews.com.

Furthermore, the message shows little understanding of important differences between HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome). The message claims that the boy was diagnosed with AIDS within 15 days of consuming the supposedly contaminated material. However, AIDS is an illness caused by HIV and is diagnosed only when the virus has seriously damaged the human immune system and the victim has developed one or more opportunistic diseases associated with the virus. Not all people infected with HIV will develop AIDS. Moreover, most people with HIV live with the virus for years before developing AIDS. Thus, the claim that the child contracted AIDS directly from the AIDS suffering cook within a few days is entirely spurious. To reiterate, while HIV can be transferred from one person to another, AIDS is an advanced stage of an individual's experience with HIV.

Even if the author intended to refer to HIV rather than AIDS, it is, in any event, exceptionally unlikely that the virus could be transmitted in the way described in these messages. HIV dies very quickly in the environment and is unable to reproduce outside its living host. According to America's Centers for Disease Control (CDC), "HIV does not survive well in the environment, making the possibility of environmental transmission remote". The CDC also maintains that:

There is no known risk of HIV transmission to co-workers, clients, or consumers from contact in industries such as food-service establishments (see information on survival of HIV in the environment). Food-service workers known to be infected with HIV need not be restricted from work unless they have other infections or illnesses (such as diarrhea or hepatitis A) for which any food-service worker, regardless of HIV infection status, should be restricted.

Furthermore, another CDC article discussing false HIV related rumours states that:

HIV is not an airborne or food-borne virus, and it does not live long outside the body. Even if small amounts of HIV-infected blood were consumed, stomach acid would destroy the virus.

If HIV could be passed on as easily as described in this warning, there would almost certainly be well-documented reports of such incidents. There are more than 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS around the world along with millions of food outlets of every description. Given these statistics, if it were possible for consumers to be infected with HIV via contaminated takeaway food, such infections would be quite common, and health authorities would advise restrictions for HIV positive food-service workers.

Thus, the claims in the message should not be taken seriously. In fact, this message is reminiscent of an earlier, and completely bogus, AIDS story that claims HIV infected blood has been deliberately placed in the ketchup dispensers of fast food outlets. Such stories serve no purpose other than to spread unnecessary fear and alarm and add to the many damaging misconceptions surrounding HIV and AIDS. Bogus warnings such as this should not be passed on to others.



References:
Doctors trash e-mails that warn against eating shawarmas
Panipuri
HIV Infection and AIDS: An Overview
How does HIV cause AIDS?
How well does HIV survive outside the body?
HIV and Its Transmission
Frequently Repeated Rumors about HIV Transmission
World AIDS & HIV Statistics
HIV Infected Blood in the Ketchup Hoax

Last updated: 8th January 2010
First published: 7th April 2006

Write-up by Brett M.Christensen