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HIV testing is being given to students at a
suburban St. Louis
high school. The high school in question became the field of a major health
scare after an infected person told officials as many as 50 teenagers might
have been exposed to HIV.
Normandy School District
spokesman Doug Hochstedler notes that there is potential for stigma for all
students regardless of whether they test positive or negative. The board will take
precautionary steps to ensure the students are fully educated. Hochstedler said
that as far as he knows, no other district has had to handle a similar
situation. Students are also concerned that the whole school will be stigmatized
because of the HIV scare.
A teacher in a neighboring district advised
a girl who dates someone at Normandy High to get tested, Hochstedler said.
The district is consulting with the
national AIDS organizations in an attempt to prevent the infection and minimize
the fallout.
The identity of the infected person has not
been made public. The St. Louis County Health Department doesn’t know whether
the infected person was a student or connected with the school.
Students are being tested at six stations
in the high school gymnasium, one class at a time. They are offered educational
materials and the opportunity to talk to health professionals about the virus. Students
are not obliged to get tested.
Infection with HIV occurs by the transfer of
blood, semen, vaginal fluid, pre-ejaculate, or breast milk. One of the major routes
of transmission is unprotected sexual intercourse. In August, a CDC report
estimated that about 56,300 new infections occurred nationwide in 2006, significantly
more than the 40,000 estimated in previous years.
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