HIV Scare at St. Louis Area HS

[LaneSig]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/10/23....ap/index.html

I don't even know what to say. I can't imagine the worry and stress for everyone involved.

[BigRedBeta]

I don't get it...is there just one really slutty person going around? It's unbelievably vague from the article and almost appears as though the people involved don't understand how HIV is transmitted.

Anyways, the bigger issue for most of these kids is the rest of their adult life...if you've ever known people from St. Louis, the single biggest determining factor of whether they can be friends with another St. Louis resident is what high school they attended...Seriously, they ask each other this question within seconds of finding out they're from St. Louis, even non-St. Louis people can gain cred by saying "I don't know what it means, but I know that I'm supposed to ask you what HS you went to in St. Louis" and they'll tell you! This school is going to have a stigma attached to it for a long time...

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by BigRedBeta

I you've ever known people from St. Louis, the single biggest determining factor of whether they can be friends with another St. Louis resident is what high school they attended...Seriously, they ask each other this question within seconds of finding out they're from St. Louis, even non-St. Louis people can gain cred by saying "I don't know what it means, but I know that I'm supposed to ask you what HS you went to in St. Louis" and they'll tell you! This school is going to have a stigma attached to it for a long time...

It's so weird! My ex was from STL, and he was so into where people went to HS...ten years later! It's not even just public schools--apparently you can tell a lot about someone by which all-girl's Catholic school they went to. STL, at least to me, was extremely segregated by class AND race. Supposedly, you could tell what "kind" people were based on what mall they shopped at. It was ridiculous.

[PeppyGPhiB]

People do it up here in Washington, too. Once they find out you grew up here, and they grew up here, too, they'll ask you which hs you went to. I know where a number of my coworkers went to hs and college.

ETA: it seems like testing the whole school is a huge waste of resources and emotions. Why doesn't the health department just alert the people whom the infected person indicates might have been exposed? Isn't that required by law? If there are 50 people who may have been exposed, via a known method of infection, test those 50 people, or anyone that fits into the category the infected person indicates is the cause. Getting an HIV test is not like getting a flu shot, Hep B shots or routine blood draw, and as the article mentions, it sounds like all the kids are being labeled by ignorant, uneducated folk.

[Kevlar281]

Originally Posted by BigRedBeta

I don't get it...is there just one really slutty person going around? It's unbelievably vague from the article and almost appears as though the people involved don't understand how HIV is transmitted.

If I had to guess, sex party aka orgy.

[sugar and spice]

My guess is that the HIV-infected student slept with multiple people (but not anywhere close to all 50) within the last few years, and that s/he is aware that they have slept with other people since then -- but probably doesn't know everyone that each of those people has slept with. Testing everyone makes more sense than just testing select people -- with that many people involved, you have no idea who's being honest about who they've slept with and who they haven't. Plus, my guess is that it's illegal for the health department to force someone to disclose their HIV status -- to the health department, I mean; obviously it's illegal not to disclose your status to somebody you're exposing the virus to. (Also, I'm guessing that plenty of kids who attend the school might want to take the test, regardless of how many "at-risk" students they've associated with, just for their own peace of mind.)

A lot of the anecdotes in that article rubbed me the wrong way. I hope this will be a good chance for the city to throw some lessons on tolerance into the HIV/AIDS unit of their sex ed classes. Seriously, breaking up with your girlfriend because she goes to a school where she might have been exposed to the virus? I know he's in high school and all, and his logic skills aren't fully formed yet . . . but almost any time you sleep with somebody who's slept with somebody else, you might be exposed to the virus. If you can't handle that idea, you're probably too young to be having sex.