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.