Negatives of testing positive (5)

Yang has taken on two cases where wives sued their ex-husbands, who were HIV positive, for infecting them. The court ruled in favor of the wives in both cases.

Yang believes concealing one's illness and infecting others should be a criminal offense.

However such proposals are met with strong objections from others working to eradicate discrimination. Many have pointed out that intentional transmission would be extremely difficult to prove and that the fear of criminalization may actually do more harm than good.

"It would marginalize the entire group of patients and HIV carriers," said Meng from CAP+, adding that in cases of intentional transmission, the current law is sufficient to punish the offenders on charges of intentional harm.

UNAIDS has also cautioned against the broad application of criminal law to HIV transmission as there is no data suggesting it would achieve its aims but rather risk undermining public health and human rights, according to a policy brief in 2008.

When he was pricked in the leg, Xu immediately thought of all the stories about HIV-contaminated needle attacks. After doctors told him HIV antibodies were found in the syringe, he started to take preventative medicine that caused severe physical discomfort. He couldn't eat for five days and felt constantly nauseous.

But the worst part was the mental distress. "Words can't describe the horror and fear I felt during that month. It felt like I was waiting for death," he recalled. He dared not tell his elderly parents.

Even though Xu did not contract HIV, he has yet to come to terms with the incident.

Xu said he hates the person who put the syringe on the taxi, but he could also see why someone might try to seek vengeance on society. He said he just hoped that person would stop.

When he first saw Love for Life, a film that touched upon the living condition of AIDS patients in China, Xu felt the discrimination portrayed in the movie was overstated.

"After I got pricked by that needle, I often thought about this movie and I watched it several times while I was waiting for my test results, said Xu, "and I cried over and over because I finally understood."

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