"Better to test once more": HIV prevention at the Tölzer Realschule

Created: 05/28/2022, 18:00

Around 90 students in the 10th grade at the Realschule Bad Tölz listened to the lecture by Dr.

Stefan Zippel.

© Sellinger

HIV prevention was recently on the timetable for the students at the Tölz secondary school.

The psychologist dr.

Stefan Zippel provided information on the subject.

Bad Tölz – In the past two years, the corona virus has dominated everyday life in schools.

But there are other viruses that students should know about.

At the top of the agenda for the secondary school in Bad Tölz is HIV prevention and education about venereal diseases.

Expert explains about "shameful topic".

In order to provide the young people with the best possible information, the Realschule has now invited Stefan Zippel, the head of the psychosocial counseling center at the clinic and polyclinic for dermatology and allergology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich, to talk about this "shameful topic" ( Zippel) to report.

The psychologist has worked in AIDS counseling for many years.

He advises HIV-infected people, provides information about prevention and fights against discrimination.

In his three-hour lecture, he addressed around 90 students in the 10th grade.

You can find more current news from the region around Bad Tölz at Merkur.de/Bad Tölz.

AIDS occurs five to eight years after infection

He first went into some facts and the main causes of HIV infection.

The virus causes a weakening of the immune system and leads to the disease AIDS on average five to eight years after infection.

It is important to know that HIV can be transmitted again shortly after infection.

This is primarily caused by the body fluids blood, semen, vaginal fluid and breast milk.

Therefore, the main causes of infection are unprotected sex.

Intravenous drug use, if non-sterile syringes are used, can also lead to infection.

You don't get infected by sneezing and sweating

"But you can't get infected through the saliva, sweat or sneezing of an HIV-positive person," Zippel reassured.

"But probably via the mucous membranes of the genital organs".

Afterwards Zippel, who has been giving lectures on this topic since 2003, explained in a very clear way "what HIV does in our body".

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This is what HIV does in the body

The human body has so-called "control cells" for the defense of the immune system, which command the "fighting cells" against invading bacteria and viruses.

However, HI viruses would have targeted the control cells and without them the combat cells would be almost useless.

"If nothing is done then, you can really get AIDS," explains Zippel.

Medicines against AIDS must be taken for life

The consequences are pneumonia and protracted diseases of the gastrointestinal tract as well as the development of benign or malignant tumors.

To prevent this, there are now successfully tested drugs.

"As a rule, a combination of three pharmaceuticals is administered, which prevents the virus from multiplying," says Zippel.

"As far as we know today, however, these preparations must be taken for a lifetime."

Even if theoretically no one would have to die from AIDS, according to the psychologist there are around 90,000 people infected with HIV in Germany, of whom up to 400 die each year.

The reasons for this are an undisciplined intake of the medication or a late discovery of the virus.

Tests are available anonymously and free of charge

Zippel therefore recommended that the students, if they suspected an infection, “rather to test themselves more than once too little”.

The young people could get these tests free of charge and anonymously from the health authorities, for example.

Zippel named the behavior of those around them as another problem that HIV patients often have to suffer from.

Some would be insulted, insulted or simply avoided.

"Such exclusion also makes you ill," emphasized the psychologist.

School donates to psychosocial counseling center at LMU

After a break, he gave a digression on sexually transmitted infections.

Furthermore, Zippel also informed the students about the HIV vaccination.

He also received a donation from the school with the provisional result of 400 euros for the psychosocial counseling center of the LMU.

According to the organizer and biology teacher Stephanie Renner, the topic was embedded in the lessons and was now rounded off by the lecture.

By Paul Sellinger

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