Misinformation around human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) often circulates in Muslim-majority Indonesia, with the latest posts claiming that the virus can be transmitted during manicures. Experts told AFP the claim is baseless, while the World Health Organisation says the virus is often spread through bodily fluids and not ordinary contact.
"If you have HIV, please don’t do nail art!! Especially for the gays. During the cuticle cleaning process, it’s prone to bleeding, and the way to sterilize the tools used is different from the usual methods," wrote part of an Indonesian-language Threads post on October 7, 2026
According to data from UNAIDS, the agency that coordinates the global response to HIV and AIDS, about 560,000 people in Indonesia live with HIV (archived link).
The virus attacks the body’s immune system by targeting white blood cells. When left untreated, HIV leads to AIDS, a stage at which opportunistic infections become life-threatening.
Indonesia’s health ministry has previously warned that the stigma people living with HIV face is high, attributing this to a lack of knowledge about how the disease is transmitted (archived link).
Similar claims were shared elsewhere on Threads, Facebook, TikTok and X, and comments on the post suggest that some users were misled.
"Nail art can transmit HIV because when cutting the cuticles there are sometimes small wounds, and if those wounds come into contact with the same tools used on a person with HIV, it can be transmitted. Stay safe, everyone," one user commented.
Another one wrote: "I've been thinking about taking a nail art course and opening a small studio, but maybe I shouldn’t, huh? It feels really scary when things are like this."
But there is no evidence that manicures can spread HIV.
'Total nonsense'
John Lambert, a consultant in Infectious Diseases and Genitourinary Medicine at Mater Misericordiae University Hospital Ireland, dismissed the circulating claim (archived link).
"This is total nonsense. HIV can spread from intimate contact, mucous membrane to mucous membrane, where there is a break in the skin," he told AFP in an email on October 13.
Another expert, Casper Rokx, an associate professor and clinical consultant as an internist and infectious diseases specialist at the Netherlands’ Erasmus University Medical Centre, said it was “impossible” for HIV to spread through manicures or dental procedures like scaling (archived link).
"[The claim] is damaging and unnecessarily hurtful for people with HIV. It shows unawareness of facts on HIV transmission and prejudice," he told AFP on October 10.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) states that HIV spreads when the body fluids of an infected person, including "blood, breast milk, semen and vaginal fluids", enter another person’s bloodstream or mucous membranes. It can also pass from a mother to her baby (archived link).
It added that people cannot become infected with the virus through ordinary contact such as kissing, hugging, shaking hands or sharing personal objects, food or water.
Meanwhile, British HIV Association guidance on cosmetic treatment states that individuals with HIV receiving non-surgical cosmetic or beauty treatments do not pose a transmission risk.
"Beauty treatments such as facials, hair removal, manicures, pedicures and massage do not require any specific guidance when provided for people with HIV," it said (archived link).
AFP previously debunked misinformation surrounding HIV and LGBT in Indonesia.
