Normandy High School HIV Scare

Parents are used to receiving letters sent home from school announcing upcoming fundraisers or field trips to the local aquarium, but no parents of students at Normandy High School in St. Louis were prepared for the alarming letter they received on October 13, 2008. In it, the school administrators stated that epidemiologists working for the local county department on a recent HIV case suspected the virus may have been exposed to up to 50 students at the high school. What has made this case even more frightening is the large scope and locale of the exposure. Under normal circumstances, a case like this would be kept confidential, but because of the 50 students who might have been infected, the school district’s superintendent decided that the information needed to be divulged to the parents of the approximately 1300 students in the school.

The superintendent Stanton Lawrence states of his decision, “We weren’t trying to create mass hysteria and panic. We didn’t want to initiate an environment of fear. We didn’t have a playbook.” The school set up free and confidential HIV testing to all students who wished to get tested; approximately 97% of the student population decided it was best to get tested for HIV. The health department so far has kept mum about how the HIV transmissions could have occurred, but it can be transmitted through intravenous drug use, through breastfeeding, through pregnancy (from mom to child) or through unprotected sex. What health officials are claiming is that the virus was not transmitted through tattoos and that only one person (no indication if it was a student) had tested positive for HIV. According to Craig LeFebvre, a spokesman for the health department, “We’re very limited in what we can release. We don’t feel like we can release anything that would indicate who it was. We don’t want witch hunts going on.”

Even though no person has been implicated, gossip abounds. After all, this is a high school we are talking about and the rumor mill is constantly churning. Says one high school junior, Jamar McKinney, “It’s the only thing we talk about. Who could have HIV, who started it, how many people have it. We always agree on who we think has it. I don’t trust nobody until I see the results. Nobody wants to walk around and say they’ve got HIV because of how they’re going to be treated. Everybody’s just going to think they’re a walking disease.”

The media has bombarded the school with attention and publicity ever since the news went public. Says Mr. Lawrence, “Anytime you send 1,300 letters to parents, you can expect there’s going to be a call to the media. There’s been some shameless sensationalism that’s gone with this story, but given the choice between spurious headlines and meeting these kids’ needs, I’m going to try to the meet these kids’ needs.” However, there may be on silver lining. With the focus on HIV and its transmission, students may think twice before putting themselves in any situation where they could put their health at risk. Jamar McKinney attests, “I’m not going to just hop into any relationship. I’m going to talk it out first with the person, and see what they sound like. And if it sounds good, ask if there’s any way I can see their results.”