RUMOR: 50 St. Louis high school students infected with HIV by a single person

HotShotX

CAGiversary!
Feedback
31 (100%)
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/10/23/high.school.hiv.ap/index.html

Still under investigation, but I will say that if I was in this situation, I wouldn't stop until the perpetrator was dead. Here's a few excerpts from the article:

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.
Hochstedler said that as far as he knows, no other district has had to handle a similar situation. Students at the school of 1,300 are being tested, and the district is getting advice on the best ways to support kids in crisis.

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.
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.

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.

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."
~HotShotX
 
"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."

WTF? Can they be any more vague? It's not like you just get AIDS through random contact... the mode of exposure is usually pretty obvious... What are they doing in St. Louis public schools... large orgies, IVDU b/w classes?
 
[quote name='62t']also there is a 3-6 months window period before they are tested positive.[/quote]

That's true for the ELISA (confirmed with Western Blot or Immunofluorescence) Antibody test.

However, you can use PCR to amplify and detect the viral nucleic acid within a couple of weeks of exposure.
 
I was about to post this

From reading off of CNN...looks like someone who had it was going around fucking everyone and a webbed chain formed....
 
While they have yet to figure out how, I still wonder how. Did he go around with his blood dried onto a thumbtack hidden in his palm and infect people by patting them on their backs?

Perhaps he's a mutant with the ability to give AIDS to humans?


[quote name='strongpimphand']I was about to post this

From reading off of CNN...looks like someone who had it was going around fucking everyone and a webbed chain formed....[/quote]


Jesus pan-seared Christ, people, wear a condom.
 
[quote name='strongpimphand']I was about to post this

From reading off of CNN...looks like someone who had it was going around fucking everyone and a webbed chain formed....[/quote]


Jesus pan-seared Christ, people, wear a condom.
 
[quote name='BigT']WTF? Can they be any more vague? It's not like you just get AIDS through random contact... the mode of exposure is usually pretty obvious... What are they doing in St. Louis public schools... large orgies, IVDU b/w classes?[/QUOTE]

Maybe they have giant heroin parties? :lol:
 
HIV is not an easy virus to transmit so it was most likely unprotected vaginal or anal sex.

Monsta Mack, that is your right, but anyone can be duped. All it takes is for someone to cheat on their significant other, come back to a trusting gf/bf and get that ball rolling.
 
just sad.... that resources are being wasted... since most of this could have been prevented by common sense.

The person could say they didn't know till too late, and he/she wouldn't get anything but a slap on the wrist yet 50 lives will be forever changed.


I'll say that I wish things like this didn't happen.... but then the other side of me says that ... well they almost let it happen.
 
[quote name='BigT']WTF? Can they be any more vague? It's not like you just get AIDS through random contact... the mode of exposure is usually pretty obvious... What are they doing in St. Louis public schools... large orgies, IVDU b/w classes?[/quote]

Even in my shitty white-bread, middle class town, IV drugs aren't uncommon, so I don't think that route is unlikely.

However, everyone's obviously going to focus in on the buttsechs, and I have two responses.

One: This is what comes with abstinence education. Condoms? What condoms? Abstinence, if that's your thing, is cool. But having been in high school not three years ago, I know that sort of education means absolutely fuck-all.
Two: The ugly truth is that there are some individuals who're bug-chasers, and there are some who intentionally infect people. The incidence of these sorts of people isn't high, but they still exist. I doubt it's likely that someone has been involved who intentionally infects other individuals, but that shouldn't be immediately discredited.

Like Myke said, details are sketchy.
 
[quote name='BigT']That's true for the ELISA (confirmed with Western Blot or Immunofluorescence) Antibody test.

However, you can use PCR to amplify and detect the viral nucleic acid within a couple of weeks of exposure.[/quote]

Yep, you can have a test now within 6 weeks.
 
[quote name='Monsta Mack']If It's by means of unprotected sex then I don't feel sorry for any of them.[/quote]

I dunno.

I think everyone has done something stupid in their life (well, maybe not TheManaKnight but that's a whole diff story)

I am scared shitless by this stuff and never do anything risky but I can't blame some stupid kids who didn't know any better - at least without getting more details first.
 
[quote name='GuilewasNK']
Monsta Mack, that is your right, but anyone can be duped. All it takes is for someone to cheat on their significant other, come back to a trusting gf/bf and get that ball rolling.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, that's the kicker. There's always the truly innocent hurt by the disease. People getting it from their boyfriend/girlfriend or husband/wife who cheated.

It's hard to feel sorry for someone who had unprotected sex with a stranger, but you can't forget the innocents who get the disease from a signficant other who cheated. Many people in long term relationships probably aren't using condoms regularly as they trust their partner.
 
bread's done
Back
Top