Students at a suburban St. Louis, Missouri high school this week are undergoing testing for HIV after an individual infected with the virus told health officials that as many as 50 of the school's teens may have been exposed to the virus that causes AIDS. Officials have thus far refused to give any details on who the person was, or how the students at Normandy High School may have been exposed.

In the midst of the HIV scare, the school district is consulting with several national AIDS organizations in an attempt to minimize the fall-out, and prevent the spread of mis-information and the disease itself. None of the students are forced to undergo testing, and all of the 1,300 students at the school are being tested voluntarily. They've also made it so that no one will know who has or has not been tested.

So far there hasn't been any kind of a major panic, but to say that things are running smoothly would be an understatement. Already a teacher in a nearby school district singled out a girl dating someone at Normandy and told her to get tested, a competing school initially balked at playing Normandy's football team, and one girl reports that her boyfriend from another school broke up with her because of the scare.

One student indicated that many of his classmates want to transfer out of the district, and that no one knows what is going on.

Last week the St. Louis County Health Department told the school of the infected person's assertation that as many as 50 students may have been exposed. They haven't revealed whether the person is a student or how they are otherwise connected to the school. Officials have also not stated how the exposure may have occurred. Possibilities include sexual activity, piercings, tattoos, and intravenous drug use.

School officials believe that they are the first district to be faced with such a large-scale AIDS scare. They will also never know how many students were infected or even tested, and once testing is completed it will become an issue between the student and their family.