A wicked rumour was circulating towards the end of December that a person infected with HIV was trying to contaminate other people with an infected needle. There has been no evidence to support such a rumour and Pils was right when its spokesperson, Nicolas Ritter, denied it saying that this was only a way of making HIV-infected people feel even more ill-at-ease and rejected by society. The note entitled ?When ignorance causes fear and rumour? made it clear that the information was ?false, gratuitous and harmful?.

In fact, the rumour may have caused even more damage than anyone had initially thought. Since then, three persons have had bad experiences that could well have a link with it. The latest is the case of a 13 year-old girl who was quietly walking in Port-Louis with friends when she suddenly felt a prick. This was actually done by a young teenager ? hardly older than her ? with a broad smile and as a silly joke? Since then, this young girl has been living with diarrhoea and nausea (thanks to the preventive treatment she is being given) but also with the terrifying idea that she might have been contaminated with Aids-HIV.

This experience may have nothing to do with the December rumour as the latter clearly stated the name of the person who was contaminating others; but, according to the Pils circular letter, the person targeted was lying on a hospital bed ?between life and death?.

What looks more probable is that people may have been ?inspired? by the rumour to spread panic. We?re not sure yet whether the people playing such ?jokes? are infectious or not ? and if the victims have been in any case infected ? but these people can cause panic and hysteria.

Being infected with Aids is already a burden; if people are adding insult to injury by making sufferers feel even more rejected, there are reasons for being worried about the future of our society. Instead of extending the debate and making people understand that Aids can?t be spread simply by living next to someone affected, touching them or even kissing them, such irresponsible behaviour ? jokes or not ? is criminal and should be severely dealt with.

As Nicolas Ritter rightly points out, ?someone living with HIV is a perfectly normal person; he/she is not worse or better than you and I. If these people feel left out, they may retreat into silence and isolation, which makes communication with their family and sexual partners even more difficult.? The paradox is that it is precisely by improving communication that the number of contaminations will decrease.

Communication at all levels must be the tool to combat the propagation of the disease. Communication by the authorities and associations to make the public aware of the precautions to take and communication from the affected person to the ones he/she mixes with to avoid risky behaviour ? the most dangerous being needle sharing and having sexual relations without using a condom.

It is hard enough to live in a microcosm where almost nothing can remain ?secret? or private. We should use this as an opportunity to better communicate and better inform rather than gossip about someone?s medical file?