HIV positive

"When thinking of AIDS, a lot of people still have the image of an emaciated patient in the process of dying."

That's what Anja Wolff of the Bochum AIDS Help has personally experienced. Even now, more than 30 years after virus was discovered, people who are infected are still being stigmatized.

For AIDS expert and professor Norbert Brockmeyer, fears of interacting and dealing with HIV-infected individuals seems to have become bigger than they once were.

"I have the impression that, for about 10 years now - and since the German public is no longer aware of HIV - stigmatization and exclusion have been increasing again."

Tough job search

Even finding a job can be a problem for HIV-positive people.

A case in point, says Anja Wolf, is that a masseur who applied for a job at a hospital. He had spoken openly about the fact that he was HIV positive - which ultimately turned out to a big disadvantage for him.

A discussion began at the hospital about whether or not the young man was at all suitable for that kind of work. Many people took part in the discussion - the medical director, the staff doctor and the personnel department - discussing the circumstances under which the applicant could be employed, if at all. One of the requirements was that he should wear two pairs of gloves, one over the other, and that he should regularly have his blood tested. Also, it was decided he should definitely undergo medical treatment.

"There was a huge fuss," Wolff says. "We then got together with the relevant doctors and asked: 'Are there any realistic possibilities of someone infecting someone else?' We then realized that, if this young man did not have unprotected sex with a male or a female patient, there was no reason to force him to accept therapy or to have his blood tested every three months."

Finally, the hospital gave in.

But by then the young man had already refused to take the job.

Second-class citizens?

For most people, a visit to the dentist is unpleasant at worst. For those who are HIV, though, the unpleasantness beings when they first make an appointment.

"People come to me and say, 'I've been to the dentist, and he has refused treatment because I am HIV positive," Wolff says. "Or, the dentist said I had to be treated as the very last patient of the day, because special measures were needed to disinfect the whole room after the treatment." Particularly in the medical field, there is a high degree of discrimination and stigmatization.

AIDS expert Brockmeyer agrees. "Doctors are part of our society, and the irrational fears that exist also apply to doctors. But a lot of them are open minded towards infected or ill people."

That's why experience is so important, he says.

"Doctors who have enough experience know that an HIV positive person is a patient like any other."

The viral load

HIV positive people can lead a more or less normal life.

Nevertheless, says Brockmeyer, prejudice and ignorance are increasing - as are irrational fears.

"The best way to change that is to have normal contact with HIV-positive people. Then you realize that it's actually an infection, or a disease, which you don't really take any notice of, and that it's just another virus."

The stigmatization of people carrying the HIV virus has significant negative consequences for them. Not only does it affect their psychological wellbeing, but also their physical condition and fitness.

The fear of being ostracized can have an impact on people because they're afraid of HIV tests in general, says Brockmeyer.

"We want to approach those people at an early stage and start treatment, so that we can improve their health as much as possible."

When that occurs, life expectancies for HIV-positive individuals are nearly the same as those who are not infected.

And the masseur who had applied for a job at the hospital?

He now works in a different hospital , one where he doesn't have to put on two pairs of gloves.