High school to have HIV testing site

NORMANDY, Mo., Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Officials in Normandy, Mo., say they're putting an HIV-AIDS testing center in the high school because several students may have been exposed to the virus.

A diagnosis last week led state health officials to Normandy High School, which has 1,300 students, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Thursday.

"This is not some major new outbreak or method of transmission, and there's no evidence to suggest it was deliberately being spread," said Craig LeFebvre, a spokesman for the state health department.

To safeguard discretion, the testing site at the school is to be staffed by health officials, not school employees, and every student who stops by will leave with literature so others at the school cannot determine who came by specifically for testing, LeFebvre said.

Sophomore LaCharles Harris said many students at Normandy are sexually active and know how to use condoms but still think the testing is a smart public-safety decision, the Post-Dispatch reported, noting there were 11 new cases of HIV among those ages 13 to 18 in the Greater St. Louis area in 2007.