HIV Scare At Missouri High School
Lack of information is responsible for the nervous tone among students, faculty and parents of Normandy High School as they cope with news that as many as 50 teenagers might have been exposed to the virus that causes AIDS. But so far officials have yet to release any details about how students might have been exposed:
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.
"There's potential for stigma for all students regardless of whether they're positive or negative," Normandy School District spokesman Doug Hochstedler said Thursday. "The board wants to be sure all children are fully educated."
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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 voluntarily, and the district is getting advice on the best ways to support kids in crisis.
The St. Louis County Health Department did comment on the situation:
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.
An opposing football team initially balked at playing Normandy's team this evening, though it appears the game will go on, and some students and their families have expressed a desire to leave the school district due to the lack of information:
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.
Yesterday the school began offering voluntary HIV tests for all students and faculty in the school's gymnasium, administered by health workers:
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."
Family Research Council Comes to Defense of Rep. Bachmann
After Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann called for the media to "find out if [members of Congress] are pro-America or anti-America" donations poured into opponent Elwyn Tinklenberg's campaign. The National Republican Campaign Committee then pulled all of its advertising support from Bachman's campaign. Now, Right Wing Watch reports that the Family Research Council has threatened to shut down its fundraising efforts on behalf of the NRCC "until it starts supporting and fighting for conservative candidates in close races."
FRC President Tony Perkins said in a letter to Cole, chairman of the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC), that the committee "is abandoning social conservative candidates" by pulling ads from the reelection races of Reps. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.) and Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.).
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Perkins, an influential conservative leader, said in his letter that he believes Cole, whose committee has been hemorrhaging money in an uphill battle against Democratic congressional candidates, "made a grave error in judgment" by pulling ads from Musgrave's and Bachmann's districts.
"The left is attacking both of these outstanding women because they are true conservatives," Perkins said. "They vote pro-life and pro-family."
Perkins wrote that both candidates are in "winnable districts," and that "pulling funds from their campaigns sends the wrong message to their supporters and gives their opponents a chance to produce headlines that the NRCC has undermined these campaigns."
"This is no time to cut and run from a fight," Perkins wrote.
He added that he will "urge supporters" of the FRC to stop contributing to the NRCC "until it starts supporting and fighting for conservative candidates in close races."
Catholic Commentator Warns Against Voting Solely on Abortion
Catholic commentary writer Marilou Johanek of Ohio newspaper the Toledo Blade, warns that Catholics who vote solely on the abortion issue have put George W. Bush in office for two terms and his administration "has done nothing to save the lives of the unborn but much to destroy what we hold sacred in America, from civil rights to liberty and justice for all."
Single-issue abortion voters got a couple of Supreme Court justices in the last eight years who may or may not favor overturning Roe vs. Wade, should the decision ever be theirs to make. Apparently for some, that makes their vote for supposedly "pro-life" candidates worth casting a ballot with a blind eye toward other culture-of-life problems that may be notoriously low on the priority list of select politicians.
As long as these officeholders espouse the "correct" anti-abortion-rights rhetoric and positions, they don't have to produce any practical life-affirming results that come from actually fighting for something like a livable wage or universal health care. In their political careers they can routinely ignore those living on the margins of life and still count on the anti-abortion rights vote election after election.
Johanek concludes with her prayer for the nearing election:
In this election, I pray that more Catholics than not will vote with their eyes wide open and in good conscience for the candidate who embraces the totality of their Catholic teaching - not just the right answer on a wedge issue.
Gloucester High School Board Opts Out of Emergency Contraception
VIDEO: Emergency ContraceptionGloucester High School, which decided to offer reproductive health services at its school clinic after an extraordinary numner of students became pregnant last semester, has decided not to offer emergency contraception to students. The decision was made because the issue of emergency contraception was not debated at public hearings during the summer and "some committee members felt it would be unfair to slip this option onto the enrollment form." Which seems to leave the option open to discussion for next school year.
Coping With Depression During Pregnancy
Much is written about post-partum depression but pre-partum depression is also a serious health issue for many women. US News and World Report takes a close look at a problem that "not only causes mom to suffer; it can also pose health risks to the baby."
Texts Tackle HIV in South Africa
A bold new effort is using text messages to inform people about and encourage testing for HIV in South Africa. Project Masiluleke will send one million free text messages a day to push people to be tested and treated:
Trials of the system showed that calls to counsellors at the National Aids helpline in Johannesburg increased by 200% when messages were broadcast.
"I think this is the largest ever use of mobile phones for health information," said Gustav Praekelt, one of the project's originators.
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"HIV testing is widely available ...but only 5% have managed to test for HIV," she said. "Most people only get a test when they are about to die."
Project Masiluleke was set up to try to counter this and encourage people to seek testing and treatment.
The initiative plans to broadcast millions of health messages every month to mobile phones across South Africa.
It is estimated that there are currently 43m handsets in a country of 49m people. Almost 95% of the phones are prepaid.
"There is near universal coverage," said Mr Praekelt. "And in the absence of other services, the mobile phone has become the central component for people to get access to information."
