The cross-border transportation which accompanies sex trafficking operations, in- country and across international borders, greatly contributes to the global spread of disease. One infectious trafficking victim can infect the men who buy him or her in several different regions or countries. Those men may go on and infect other partners, both in and out of the commercial sex industry.
This avenue for spreading disease has had devastating effects on families worldwide. Some cultural myths about AIDS, like the idea that sex with a virgin will cure an HIV infection, encourages infected men to seek out unprotected sex with very young trafficking victims. All of these conditions allow HIV and infectious disease to flourish and spread on a global level.