Sure. And there could be other medical explanations too. A visit to one’s doctor is always the thing.

By the time people with classic AIDS phobia get to the point of searching the Internet to “confirm” their fears, they’ve usually already been to one physician or several.

The pattern usually then has it that they seek out non-medical advice like from HIV counselors.

Certainly we can (and do) advise them to talk to medical professionals about their symptoms, but that can sort of be a subset of how you can’t fight a true phobia with information. What they really need is help getting over the irrational nature of their fears — with counseling and sometimes with drugs that treat obsessive disorders.