In the late 1980s
an Urban Legend surfaced that described a casual sexual encounter with
terrible consequences. A common version of this story tells of a young
man celebrating his 21st birthday in the arms of a prostitute,
organised by his friends. When he wakes the next day he finds,
scrawled across the bathroom mirror in red lipstick, the phrase,
"Welcome to the world of AIDS." In the 1990s this story, dubbed "AIDS
Mary," has mutated somewhat into 2 or 3 distinct variants. The next
variant to be encountered -- one that is still circulating in parts of
the world today -- dispensed with sexual contact and focused on random
needle attacks, usually in nightclubs. The victim would feel a sharp
pain and when they investigated, would find a sticker on their
clothing somewhere that reads, "Welcome to reality -- you now have
AIDS."
Following this story came two separate (though similar) tales -- one
which claimed that HIV-infected needles were being hidden in cinema
seats with a "Welcome to the world of AIDS" note attached and another
which claimed that drug users were disposing of HIV and
hepatitis-infected sharps in telephone and vending machine coin return
slots.
The San Fernando Valley Folklore Society maintains a comprehensive web
page dedicated to this Urban Legend. They note a story that appears to
be an antecedent, dating from the 1930s in New Orleans. Attractive
young women were warned to be careful of "The Needle Man," and were
instructed to sit in the aisle in movie theaters because white
slavers, working in pairs, would not then be able to bracket them (sit
on either side) and inject them with morphine so they could be whisked
away to a life of white slavery.
The San Fernando Valley Folklore Society also notes that a Louisiana
man did sit on a needle in a Baton Rouge cinema in 1996 -- however
there was no accompanying note and no indication he contracted any
infection as a result.
Both the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) and the Dallas Police
Department maintain online public notices debunking this email chain
letter.
It should be noted, however, that the threat of syringe attacks are
becoming more and more frequent. In Australia, for instance, where
tight gun control laws are in place, an increasing number of robberies
are being made with the assistance of fluid-filled syringes, usually
with the accompanying threat that the fluid in the syringe is
HIV-infected blood. The San Fernando Valley Folklore Society's web
page lists several instances in which people have been stabbed with
syringes or other medical sharps with an implied threat of HIV
infection, but the overwhelming majority of these have turned out to
be pranks.
However, while cases of deliberate HIV infection with syringes are
rare, they are not entirely unknown. In 1990 an Australian prison
guard at Sydney's Long Bay Jail, Gary Pearce, was deliberately
infected with HIV by inmate Graham Farlow, who stabbed Pearce in a
buttock with a blood-filled syringe. Both Farlow and Pearce have
subsequently died from AIDS-related illnesses -- Farlow in 1991 and
Pearce in 1997.
In 1992 in Saint Charles Mo. an 11-month old boy was allegedly
deliberately infected with HIV-tainted blood by his father. The boy's
mother, only identified as "Jennifer," testified in 1998 that the
boy's father told her, after visiting his son in hospital, that she
need not seek child support payments because "your child is not going
to live very long." The father, Brian Stewart, allegedly smuggled
HIV-infected blood out of a hospital where he worked as a phlebotomist
(a person who draws blood). In 1996 Stewart's son was diagnosed with
AIDS. Stewart's defence attorney claimed that Stewart was innocent and
that his son had come into contact with at least 23 other people from
whom he may have been infected with HIV. "Jennifer" conceded that
Stewart had never specifically claimed that he would infect the boy
with HIV.
