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HIV scare puts US high school in uncertain territory
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-24 13:52 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." 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. "They took a very proactive stance," he said. "There's no precedent for this." Students are being tested at six stations in the high school gymnasium, one class at a time. Only representatives from the Health Department are with the students, who are offered educational materials and a chance to ask questions before they are given an opportunity to be tested with a mouth swab, Hochstedler said. They may decline. They exit through a separate door, and no one in the school would know who did or did not get tested. "It's entirely up to the student," he said. "There's a lot of stigma associated with this." The district will never know whether or how many of its students tested positive, he said. "Once they're tested," he said, "it's an issue between the department and the child and his family." So far, the district has met twice with parents and begun to ask ministers in the community to stress the importance of responsible behavior, Lawrence said. Students in grades four through 12 already take classes that discuss the consequences of risky behavior, including HIV, he said. |
