HIV Scare At Missouri High School

Tests Conducted Over Fears That Up To 50 Teens At Suburban St. Louis School May Be Infected

(CBS/AP)  Students at a suburban St. Louis high school headed to the gymnasium for HIV testing this week after an infected person told health officials as many as 50 teenagers might have been exposed to the virus that causes AIDS.

Officials refused to give details on who the person was or how the students at Normandy High School might have been exposed, but the district is consulting with national AIDS organizations as it tries to minimize the fallout and prevent the infection - and misinformation - from spreading.

Health Department spokesman Craig LeFebvre has said the possibilities on how the students may have been exposed include sexual activity, intravenous drug use, piercings and tattoos.

"There's potential for stigma for all students regardless of whether they're positive or negative," Normandy School District spokesman Doug Hochstedler said Thursday. "The board wants to be sure all children are fully educated."

A teacher in a neighboring district singled out a girl who dates someone at Normandy High and instructed her to get tested, Hochstedler said. A competing school's football team initially balked at playing Normandy's 8-0 team.

Jasmine Lane, a 16-year-old sophomore, said her boyfriend from a neighboring high school broke up with her on learning of the news - after she bought them tickets to homecoming.

"I cried so hard," she said.

Hochstedler said that as far as he knows, no other district has had to handle a similar situation.

Appearing on The Early Show, Dr. Stanton Lawrence, superintendent of the Normandy School District, told co-anchor Harry Smith that the students "amazingly" have been very resilient to word of the health scare.

"The day we sent it out, I was in high school going classroom-to-classroom," Lawrence said. "Our students were engaged just as they routinely are. We provided additional counseling support, but the students reacted very, very well, as did the parents."

Students at the school of 1,300 are being tested voluntarily, and the district is getting advice on the best ways to support kids in crisis.

But some are feeling stigmatized.

Sophomore Tevin Baldwin said that many of his classmates in this working-class city of about 5,000 residents want to transfer out of the district, which encompasses other towns.

"Nobody knows what's going on," he said. The district declined to respond to his assertion.

Marcus Holman, a 14-year-old freshman, said he never imagined HIV would become such a widespread threat at school.

"I'm just trying to pass, get to the next grade, safely," he said.

The St. Louis County Health Department said last week that a positive HIV test raised concern that students at Normandy might have been exposed. The department is not saying whether the infected person was a student or connected with the school, only that the person indicated as many as 50 students may have been exposed.

Hochstedler said the district doesn't know the person's identity, or even whether he or she is a student.

"We do know there was some potential exposure between that person and students," he said. "We don't know the individual or the route of transmission."

Lawrence told Smith that, according to health officials, it is not believed that the carrier knowingly transmitted the virus. He also suggested that, even with what is known about HIV and AIDS and its dangers, students could make mistakes.

"Children are children, and if adults can make questionable decisions, certainly we have to understand that our young people will do this from time to time," he said on The Early Show. "I think what's important is that we respond, as we did, as expeditiously as possible, and let what is best for the kids drive our decision-making."

The district learned Oct. 9 of the potential exposure and within a business day worked out with the Health Department how to release the information and handle testing, he said.

"They took a very proactive stance," he said. "There's no precedent for this."

Students are being tested at six stations in the high school gymnasium, one class at a time. Only representatives from the Health Department are with the students, who are offered educational materials and a chance to ask questions before they are given an opportunity to be tested with a mouth swab, Hochstedler said. They may decline.

They exit through a separate door, and no one in the school would know who did or did not get tested.

"It's entirely up to the student," he said. "There's a lot of stigma associated with this."

The district will never know whether or how many of its students tested positive, he said.

"Once they're tested," he said, "it's an issue between the department and the child and his family."

So far, the district has met twice with parents and begun to ask ministers in the community to stress the importance of responsible behavior, Lawrence said.

Students in grades four through 12 already take classes that discuss the consequences of risky behavior, including HIV, he said.

[nothappyatall]

Pray to *** your child doesnt get it and rrepent because our days are numbered."

EVERYONE''S days are numbered you numbskull!


"Theres a cure they just make more money lying and saying their looking for one."

NO virus has a cure

"Dont let yourself be deceived get educated about whats going on in the world by reading your [buyBULL] and getting saved."

Get saved by your freakish murderous ''god'' from HIMSELF thats a real LAUGH!!!

"*** Bless all and I love you although I dont know you. *** coming soon so get on *** level."

My dog i s coming soon too so BEND OVER HONEY it''s coming at ya!

[colemangirl1]

Pray to GOD your child doesnt get it and rrepent because our days are numbered. Theres a cure they just make more money lying and saying their looking for one. The government created Aids and they need to clean it up. Dont let yourself be deceived get educated about whats going on in the world by reading your bible and getting saved. God Bless all and I love you although I dont know you. Gods coming soon so get on Gods level.

[nothappyatall]

And we wonder why we have, amongst other things, such high disease rates.

Posted by Hypnotoad72

Because our population climbed from 150 million in 1950 to over 305 million today is why we are seeing these problems and more- increase the population density to that degree of growth in that short a time and increased diseases, violence and worse are the rule- you can even see it in overpopulated animal colonies wild or domestic, jam 100 animals into a small facility and it only takes ONE infected animal to infect the rest.

With modern jet travel it only takes ONE infected passenger embarking a plane in Germany, flying to LaGuardia, taking a bus or subway, transferring at Grand Central station to infect dozens more people who in turn will each infect more- that''s how pandemics and epidemics SPREAD.
Smallpox and influenza epidemics and more spread that way- one infected person moving about non infected, the more contact the more it spreads.

[nothappyatall]

Any animal capable of licking its own *** likely carries cholera to some degree. "

PS, how do you know where that person''s hand you just shook were ten minutes previously? maybe he/she went to the toilet and didnt even WASH and now you touched fecal material and are at risk of ecoli- happens a lot, happens all the time with restaurant COOKS contaminating the food with ECOLI by not washing after the toilet. At least I know my own indoor dogs'' habits, vaccination status, cleanliness and health which is a lot more than you can say for that co-worker you shook hands with today...

[nothappyatall]

And to newster1: Dogs may not carry AIDS, but they CAN carry many other STDs and diseases communicable to humans. Many of them quite deadly, like cholera. Any animal capable of licking its own *** likely carries cholera to some degree. So you might want to do a bit of research on epidemiology before you go suggesting pets as an alternative. I think people would be better off choosing to

Posted by phydeux2

Cholera comes from contaminated WATER my friend! I dont need to research, Ive had contact with multiple dogs exclusively for the last 40 years, not once have I contracted anything- not once! thats all the proof I need. OTH you can contract a multitude of STD''s influenza (can be fatal), hepatitus, crabs, common colds, measels and a whole assortment of other diseases just from touching another person, touching a doorknob or breathing the air in a room someone coughed in- thanks but Ill take my "chances" on my animals any day!

[nothappyatall]

There are drugs out there that keep your immune system active and healthy; yes, they''''re expensive but you''''ll live a long, normal life. Please get informed.

Posted by Avigil2 "

Um, you''ll get the drugs ONLY if you can afford them, as you said they are expensive and have to be taken forever not just once or twice, here''s a sample of INDIVIDUAL drug cost, usually one would take more than a single drug, if you dont have insurance and work for like $8 an hour or something, you are S.O.L;

ONE MONTH worth;

Retrovir $405.59
Reyataz $892.91
Sustiva 600mg $499.43
Trizivir $1164.35
Truvada $867.99

hey drivelphobe, listen, some people dont do anything, they like get raped, or someone lies to them, or the condom breaks...we now know that HIV comes from the Congo, in Africa, and that the strain is as old as the early 1920s...it most likely came from a tribe where people were eating monkey...something that has been going on in different parts of the world (including Nepal) for hundreds of years and which continues today.

[sd_boy1]

I feel sorry for these children, the test window for definitive results have narrowed however, for PCR tests it is very expensive. The next six months are going to be very long. I have been through that and I never want to experience that again. It cost me several things in my life, just the fer alone. I was fortunate, I was negative.

[mainemade]

His name was Ryan White, not "something or another".

Posted by last121868 at 09:26 AM : Oct 24, 2008

Amen. And to this day that young man is the one who put a face to this disease. He did not hide from the media, as someone posted, but instead it was quite tho opposite. Ryan believed in educating people, and was quite sucessful. Like everyone always told me growing up, "Education and knowledge are the most powerful forces one can have"
So quit being so judgemental people and get educated. Some day it might save your life.

[avigil2]

One''''s life is basically ruined once acquired. Hopefully, a cure is on the horizon, but until then, everyone should realize it is the kiss of death. -Posted by drivelphobe

Oh what little brain you have. Anyone who is HIV+ today will most likely die of natural causes and live to be considered senior citizens. There are drugs out there that keep your immune system active and healthy; yes, they''re expensive but you''ll live a long, normal life. Please get informed.

[erasmus81]

There are very few excuses for getting it. EVERYONE should be wearing a condom.

Posted by erasmus81 at 04:25 PM : Oct 24, 2008

Years ago, there may have been excuses for getting diseases and getting pregnant. But TODAY, with all the information we have, NO, there is no longer any excuse.

[hypnotoad72]

Someone once said we are not a society, but individual men, women, and families.

These days, we''re not even families.

And we wonder why we have, amongst other things, such high disease rates.

Well, I do have a problem with 25% of NYC having herpes. Heaven help anyone who decides to enter a relationship (nee, sleep with) someone there. Or anywhere else.

Maybe that''s why so many are apathetic these days. So many would rather be sleazy, and those who try to speak up are spat on, so why not be apathetic?

[erasmus81]

Drivelphobe you are an arrogant person to say that anyone deserves something like HIV you are a horrible person, I can not believe I am reading something like this on a news website.

Posted by SFrederick04 at 02:23 PM : Oct 24, 2008

Okay, so maybe they don''t necessarily "deserve" it, but they are pretty d*mn stupid if they get it. There are very few excuses for getting it. EVERYONE should be wearing a condom. No one should be giving oral s-e-x. No one should be sharing needles etc. Everyone knows what the consequences can be.

Of course when you are married, or decide to live together, you don''t think you should have to be using a condom. But, before you get married, you both should be tested.

Other than being in a long term relationship, there really is no excuse for being unprotected.

[easeup-2009]

LOL Not as a lubricant, no. That would be horrible. I meant it as a way to keep your hands germ-free while you''''re "taking matters into your own hands" with whatever lubricant you choose.

Posted by phydeux2 at 02:24 PM : Oct 24, 2008

You mean, "roughing up the suspect?"

[drivelphobe]

SFrederick04

Your comments are made without thought on your part.

I did say many are unlucky. Many consistently make bad decisions and deserve what they get. Others, who think before they act, make good decisions, and are concerned for themselves and others, will be free of the disease.

I may be a horrible person as you claim, I don''t think so. This disease isnot new and everyone should have enough sense to avoid the risky behavior that leads to this infection.

All high schools are faced with this, even though there is maybe no knowledge of it yet. The disease is pervasive, harbors an undetectable incubation and is in every high school in this country whether you are willing to accept that or not.

Individual responsibility is the key to prevention.

[sepa2]

As long as capitalist economy and some people misuse secs genes (one of most powerful animal urges) to make money, problems like these and many other socially harmful problems occur.

[jng123-2009]

aaahhh, that''s a relief. :)

[phydeux2]

LOL Not as a lubricant, no. That would be horrible. I meant it as a way to keep your hands germ-free while you''re "taking matters into your own hands" with whatever lubricant you choose.

[ccflirt92]

Drivelphobe you are an arrogant person to say that anyone deserves something like HIV you are a horrible person, I can not believe I am reading something like this on a news website. WOW, if your son or daughter got it would you say that he or she deserved it? Prolly not and you are wishing that on someone elses kid...think before you talk. Another thing yes HIV is a hard disease and yes it has been around but NOT EVERY SCHOOL IS FACING THIS!!! My school has never in history faced anything like an outbreak this big again you are speaking without thinking...
I do however believe the infected person should have told the person she was having sexual intercourse with what she had and been more careful..if she knew about it before...the article never states that.

[ccflirt92]

Drivelphobe you are an arrogant person to say that anyone deserves something like HIV you are a horrible person, I can not believe I am reading something like this on a news website. WOW, if your son or daughter got it would you say that he or she deserved it? Prolly not and you are wishing that on someone elses kid...think before you talk. Another thing yes HIV is a hard disease and yes it has been around but NOT EVERY SCHOOL IS FACING THIS!!! My school has never in history faced anything like an outbreak this big again you are speaking without thinking...
I do however believe the infected person should have told the person she was having sexual intercourse with what she had and been more careful..if she knew about it before...the article never states that.