Incidents of deliberate attempts to spread HIV infection have been reported among persons living with HIV in different parts of the world. Cases of different types of deliberate HIV transmission have been recounted, including use of force, attempts made by one partner in a couple having a sexual relationship, and serial attempts made by an infected person against different persons. In those countries where cases of deliberate transmission of HIV infection have been reported, men with HIV/AIDS were more likely than women to be involved in performing acts consistent with deliberate attempts of spreading HIV infection. Incidents involving women have been rare, and, when reported, tend to show that women may behave in this way as a form of retaliation against the presumption that their male partners deliberately exposed them to HIV infection.

Increasing numbers of deliberate attempts to spread HIV resulted in public pleas for criminal sanctioning of the perpetrator's behavior. The pleas were mostly meant to help women, who were often the victims of willful transmission of HIV infection. There have been several attempts to criminalize the deliberate spread of HIV. For instance, laws against HIV transmission include those passed in the United Kingdom, Zimbabwe, Australia, and in at least thirty states in the United States, making it a criminal offense to knowingly or willfully expose someone to or transmit HIV infection. Several studies have reported cases that have been decided, for example, in Cyprus, a man was sentenced to prison for not disclosing that he had AIDS to his British girlfriend, leading to her seroconversion.