HIV scare at small Missouri school

[socal57che]

Link-o-rama
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081024/...igh_school_hiv
I'm from Missouri, but had to google Normandy to find out where it was. Turns out it's in St Louis.

 

[lovethesea]

Not really small.....it is a city school in a pretty tough area.
This really peeves me off.
1. the kid that is HIV positive.......did he/she know it? If so, I believe there are serious legal issues against this person.
2. I am not gonna get on my soap box and say " NO S3X" cuz I know its gonna happen. BUT, for god's sake, THEY all KNOW about this stuff. Protection is out there. WHY in the sam hill are these kids not using protection.
These days pregnancy is the least of the problems, now its life threatening
diseases.
Pres. Clinton seemed to claim certain acts "non-s3xual".

(lets not make this political, he just happened to proclaim it to the world)

 

[socal57che]

I looked up the location after I posted the thread. Otherwise I'd have left out the "small" part. You have kids in school, right? I have to admit that you came to mind when I found out where it was.
I can't believe that they are unable (unwilling) to give pertinant information to the people with kids there. I'd pull mine if they withheld info that concerned the life or death of my children. I suppose it was not conaminated food considering they are conducting classes.
They wouldn't even say if it was an adult or a student.

 

[sepulatian]

NORMANDY, Mo. – 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.
WHAT??? How they may have been exposed??? Do they not know how HIV is spread in MO? Unless this person had S3x with everyone there then they are safe. Am I not reading this correctly??

 

[myzislow]

Originally Posted by sepulatian
http:///forum/post/2809128
WHAT??? How they may have been exposed??? Do they not know how HIV is spread in MO? Unless this person had S3x with everyone there then they are safe. Am I not reading this correctly??
lol exactly what I was thinking. and bigger lol @ thinking food can be contaminated with the HIV virus.

 

[reefraff]

There are other ways HIV can be spread. Certain specific activities have higher probabilities of spreading it than others.
If I had a kid in that school I would want details. The article says the warning came as a result of a positive HIV test so the person with the disease didn't the right thing.

 

[lovethesea]

well, I am thinking that
it took just one person to bring it in. Then it goes like wildfire from there. Depending on how busy a few are this could turn out to be nothing, or could be huge and spread out from the school.
Hopefully all of the kids are honest, it sounds like tons of kids are being tested and all are complete. The district involved seems to be handling this in a orderly fashion. No one will find anything out until tests are complete.
They just showed a girl on the news she said "I am being tested just to be on the safe side even though I am not s3xually active".

One mom was interviewed and said "I guess we just really have to make sure we talk and stay involved with the kids"
REALLY???? You mean you have to keep an eye on these creatures? REALLY...... UUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH

This is in far North St. Louis City. Most of the area is pretty rough and some of the area is well kept.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by myzislow
http:///forum/post/2809176
lol exactly what I was thinking. and bigger lol @ thinking food can be contaminated with the HIV virus.
Right. That is the most ridiculous school panic that I have ever seen. Do we (Socal, you posted it) and others need a class on how HIV is spread? You don't get it by touching another person or standing in the same lunch line, nor by playing ball with someone with it...

 

[socal57che]

Originally Posted by myzislow
http:///forum/post/2809176
lol exactly what I was thinking. and bigger lol @ thinking food can be contaminated with the HIV virus.
So someone working in the kitchen cannot transfer it to food after being cut with a common kitchen knife during food handling?
Is this what you are saying?
HIV has spread in households without the three letter contact word.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by socal57che
http:///forum/post/2809208
So someone working in the kitchen cannot transfer it to food after being cut with a common kitchen knife during food handling?
Is this what you are saying?
HIV has spread in households without the three letter contact word.
If someone is bleeding into the food then that is nasty. A small cut would not be dripping HIV infected blood into the food. Health code states that all cuts must be wrapped.

 

[socal57che]

Originally Posted by sepulatian
http:///forum/post/2809212
If someone is bleeding into the food then that is nasty. A small cut would not be dripping HIV infeted blood into the food. Health code states that all cuts must be wrapped.
Nasty as it may be, I spent a little time in food service.

Just look at all the hepatitis cases linked to restaurant employees.
These statements lead me to believe that the Health Department knows something and is withholding information.
"The Health Department also will not say how any exposure might have occurred. Health Department spokesman Craig LeFebvre has said the possibilities include sexual activity, intravenous drug use, piercings and tattoos."
and
"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."
Why start testing students if there is not a risk of it being transmitted to the general populus of the school? The fact that testing was organized by the Health Department throws up a red flag in my eyes.

 

[myzislow]

Originally Posted by socal57che
http:///forum/post/2809208
So someone working in the kitchen cannot transfer it to food after being cut with a common kitchen knife during food handling?
Is this what you are saying?
HIV has spread in households without the three letter contact word.
while that scenario is obv disgusting the chance of transmitting HIV by dripping blood into your food is slim to none. As soon as the virus is exposed to oxygen, it's destroyed.

 

[sepulatian]

I combed the article again and did not find this tidbit in there. Maybe I am blind.
"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."
It has been awhile since I read up on HIV but to my recollection, it has to be direct blood contact or s3xual fluids. Even if someone was to bleed onto a toilet seat, you would need a cut, and rub it on there, to get HIV from sitting on the same toilet. The virus does not live outside of the body. You would have to directly consume the blood or have it enter your blood stream in some other way rather quickly for a small cut from a kitchen worker to cause others to be infected.

 

[socal57che]

Originally Posted by sepulatian
http:///forum/post/2809227
I combed the article again and did not find this tidbit in there. Maybe I am blind.
It has been awhile since I read up on HIV but to my recollection, it has to be direct blood contact or s3xual fluids. Even if someone was to bleed onto a toilet seat, you would need a cut, and rub it on there, to get HIV from sitting on the same toilet. The virus does not live outside of the body. You would have to directly consume the blood or have it enter your blood stream in some other way rather quickly for a small cut from a kitchen worker to cause others to be infected.
"Although HIV has been transmitted between family members in a household setting, this type of transmission is very rare. These transmissions are believed to have resulted from contact between skin or mucous membranes and infected blood"
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/fac...ansmission.htm
This means that it may be possible to contract it by eating food containing infected blood.
I'll admit that it is unlikely, but there has to be a reason for the reaction by the Health Department. Why do they feel it's necessary to test the students?

 

[socal57che]

Originally Posted by myzislow
http:///forum/post/2809226
while that scenario is obv disgusting the chance of transmitting HIV by dripping blood into your food is slim to none. As soon as the virus is exposed to oxygen, it's destroyed.
I understood it to be the drying of the blood, not simple exposure to oxygen.

 

[lovethesea]

This case is s3xually transmitted. One kid told another they may want to get tested. (thats what the media said anyway)

 

[socal57che]

Originally Posted by lovethesea
http:///forum/post/2809314
This case is s3xually transmitted. One kid told another they may want to get tested. (thats what the media said anyway)
So they estimate that 50 kids may have been exposed due to sexual activity. Wow. That's a pretty big number, imo. At least now we are sure that it wasn't due to bodily fluids draining into the food source.

 

[lovethesea]

Like I said, if you think this very scarey thought... It just takes one person.
Then they "share" with another and then that person could share with one person, and then that person.........etc.
I once saw a chart in my kids ped. office, it kind of looked like a family tree.
BUT it was how s3xually transmitted diseases can spread. IT WAS very mind blowing and eye opening.
Are you aware of some of the "parties" that are popular with the middle school crowd? One person could technically infect a few people in a matter of minutes. I won't discuss it here, but when my daughter and her friends told me about it, I wanted to cry. So sad that the kids think this is OK to disrespect themselves, each other and most of all they don't think it is s3x.!.

 

[socal57che]

Originally Posted by lovethesea
http:///forum/post/2809531
Like I said, if you think this very scarey thought... It just takes one person.
Then they "share" with another and then that person could share with one person, and then that person.........etc.
I once saw a chart in my kids ped. office, it kind of looked like a family tree.
BUT it was how s3xually transmitted diseases can spread. IT WAS very mind blowing and eye opening.
Are you aware of some of the "parties" that are popular with the middle school crowd? One person could technically infect a few people in a matter of minutes. I won't discuss it here, but when my daughter and her friends told me about it, I wanted to cry. So sad that the kids think this is OK to disrespect themselves, each other and most of all they don't think it is s3x.!.
And our state is trying to kill home schooling efforts.

We are so close to home schooling. Our youngest is in 4th grade and three of her friends switched to home schooling over the summer break. We would like to pull her before she hits middle school. Same crap going on out here.

 

[maryg]

I have worked in HIV prevention and also a state clinic for children.
There are MANY children that are infected via childbirth from their mother. Most of these children DO NOT even know they are infected. They just take their meds everyday and see a doctor regularly. As a health professional we can not tell the child without the parent's consent until they are a certain age (In the state of Florida). Children have sexual encounters at a very early age these days. In Florida we have many immigrants from other countries (carribean). HIV is very prevalent in the Haitian community. They also believe that they don't have it or some voodoo can make it go away. Have the time they do not take their meds. The men also have a lot of --- on the down low. They believe that they can give and not recieve and it is still ok. Then they transfer it to their signifigant others whom then transfer it to their infants. As a parent you have to be open about sexual issues with your children. My children knew what I did for a living and became educated about it.
Remember as a child when some kids tried to become "blood brothers". As a parent that still freeks me out!!