For seven years, the first thing Alex did after he woke up was to check whether there were bruises or swelling on his body. “If I felt ill, I was not in the mood to do any other things,” he said. Alex suspected that he had AIDS, and it wasn’t until recent years that he got rid of this irrational fear.

AIDS Phobia is also called HIV Anxiety Disorder. Alex was among the 1.6-1.8 million cases of AIDS-phobic people in China. The number is estimated by an AIDS phobia intervention center based in Chengdu. That is more than the number of AIDS patients in China. Statistics from the National Health Commission show that as of the end of October 2020, 1.045 million AIDS-infected cases have been reported nationwide.

“The first word that jumps into my mind is ‘anxiety’, which comes from worry about the future; the second word is ‘fear’, fear about the unknown, and not being clear about my self-state,” said Alex when he was looking back on his seven years of AIDS phobia. Alex's most intuitive feeling was that there was little hope in his life, because he suspected he had AIDS.

Most people with AIDS phobia suspect that they have been infected with AIDS after having sex, while there are also some people who lack common sense about the disease. Some questions raised by them are: is there a risk of infection with AIDS if my HIV result is negative? My roommate’s private life is messed up, but I used his nail clippers, will I get infected? I went to the hospital for an HIV check, will I get infected? Raising people’s awareness about AIDS still has a long way to go.