Gareth Thomas: HIV means people still afraid to hug me

Ex-Wales and British and Irish Lions rugby captain Gareth Thomas said some people were afraid to hug him because he has HIV.

He told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast people think they will catch the virus if they come into contact with him.

"There's no risk of me transmitting HIV, yet people assume any contact at all whether it be a hug... is a way of contracting HIV," Thomas said.

In 2019, he revealed he had HIV and wanted to end the stigma around it.

"A lot of times people leave the room when I walk in, or they ask to use the different toilet if I used the toilets," Thomas said.

"I just feel a sense of misunderstanding because they are trying to protect themselves but there's no need.

"If [people] had the right information then they wouldn't need to ask to use a different toilet, or ask to sit in a different part of the room."

Thomas said revealing that he is living with HIV was similar to coming out as gay in 2009 because of "the fear, the hiding, the secrecy, the not knowing how people are going to react".

He has previously said public information campaigns in the 1980s, warning people to take precautions against Aids, have left a legacy of misunderstanding.

Advances in medicine now allow people who are HIV positive to live long healthy lives. With effective treatment, the virus cannot be passed on.

The ex-full back is backing a campaign aimed at ending negative attitudes about sex.

He said it was "frightening" that half of the 6,000 people surveyed said straight men and women are not at risk of acquiring HIV.