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HIV-Positive Toddler Banned From Pool

ABC News
Posted: 2007-07-09 07:20:50
Filed Under: Health News, Nation News
(July 8) - A couple says their vacation was ruined when an RV park owner told them they weren't welcome after discovering their 2-year-old foster son had the HIV virus.

The Glovers said Caleb is a happy child who they just wanted to please because his life expectancy is only seven years. They left the park after they were asked to submit a doctor's note for the boy.

Last week, Dick and Silvia Glover went to the Wales West RV Park in Silver Hill, Ala., with their foster son Caleb. When the boy was banned from using the pool and showers, the Glovers said they were offered an uncomfortable and painful choice: They could either keep Caleb out of the water or leave.

"We weren't sure if somebody could get the virus if the child upchucked on them or from blood or what," said Ken Zadnichek, the park's owner. "We didn't know what the risk was. That's why we asked for something from their doctor or the county health department."

Dick Glover said the request for a doctor's note made it clear Caleb was unwelcome.

An Alabama newspaper quoted Zadnichek as saying, "I'm not responsible for their feelings. I'm responsible for the well-being of everybody in the park. If their feelings got hurt, I'm sorry. That's the way it's got to be."

Upset and dismayed, the couple left with their son.

"Here we are paying for the facilities, but there's certain ones our son can't use," Dick Glover said.

Glover said on "Good Morning America Weekend Edition" that he could understand where Zadnichek was coming from, but added Zadnichek should have been more informed about HIV and AIDS.

"Little Caleb, he was innocent as can be," Glover said. "It was not he's fault he was born with AIDS."

Silvia Glover said it never occurred to her Caleb's HIV status would be an issue. In fact, the matter came up in a casual conversation with a desk clerk when she told the attendant of her plans to adopt the toddler.

The Glovers said they chose the location because of their son's love of trains. Wales West features steam and diesel locomotives -- similar to ones used by the mining industry in Wales -- on a railway that circles a small lake.

Complicating matters is the fact that 69-year-old Dick Glover suffers from advanced non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He is expected to have 18 months to live.

Silvia Glover said some Americans are not educated enough about HIV.

"They don't know near enough, especially that children are totally innocent and represent no danger to the public," she said.

Medical experts said the HIV virus is unable to spread through casual contact.

"There's absolutely no way you can get HIV from a pool or a shower casual contact using the same facilities," said David Little, director of South Alabama CARES, an AIDS education and outreach organization that serves 12 counties in south Alabama. "It just doesn't happen."

The Glovers said Caleb is a happy child who they just wanted to please because his life expectancy is only seven years.

Copyright 2008 ABCNEWS.com
2007-07-08 15:29:46
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1 - 10 of 13400
13400 comments

cheryllora 12:47:11 AM Oct 13 2008

mrpikakip: You apparently are extremely uninformed when it comes to diseases. There are people who have caught AIDS/HIV without contamination and do not know how they got it. There are those who worked around it with safety measures taken in all aspects, they do not know how they got it. You can't say that a person can't get it 'by' because they do not know all the mutations of the diseases. It is not as simple as your brain appears to be. There are complications that you are totally unaware of. It might even be air born as far as some suspect. It's just that certain situations contaminate the victim such as people with mucus drainage in their throat keeps them from catching the flu because the mucus catches the germs and runs them out the body before the germ can embed itself. Didn't know that either did you? Don't assume anything, always know there is more then the problem then meets the eye. Just as Rabies is far more dangerous then you probably know as well. The slava has the dise

mrpikakip 01:57:18 AM Sep 18 2008

Oh, and answering earlier questions, you can infact get AIDS from a bleeding wound, but I believe the amount of blood that needs to be transmitted if the virus is to survive is around 2 pints.That's alot of blood O__O

mrpikakip 01:51:15 AM Sep 18 2008

that is completely and utterly retarded.the AIDS and HIV viruses die instantly in contact with air. being in a pool or being exposed in open air for more than a second will completely eliminate it.As the the tards who suggested that the child infected with HIV and seriously bite another child to the point where HIV infection is possible....well at that point you should worry about your child not dying from blood loss, infection or polio if he sustains a bite injury serious enough to transmit AIDS.And they are absolutely right about one thing thou, there is no such thing as zero risk. Except the odds of you getting aids from a pool, shower or even broken glass amounts to 1 out of 10 to the 7th power.For comparison, the odds of you getting struck by lightning is 1 to 244,000.

cheryllora 12:47:25 AM Jul 15 2008

foetusyumyums? And your point is? I don't know if you get it but...ugh...I don't want MY KID TO CATCH THAT KID'S HIV, END OF STORY! If you can't respect parents loving their children enough to PROTECT them from illnesses, deadly virus potentials, you should not be a parent. Should not have children under your care. They are in grave danger with people around them who would subject them to diseases that would kill them. Leukemia is thought to be caused by a 'virus'. My 1st son died of it, don't go there you have NO idea what you are talking about.

foetusyumyums 08:17:58 AM Jul 07 2008

God, you people that are saying "we need to be cautious" about the other children, are just really dumb aren't you?THE VIRUS CAN NOT EXIST ONCE ITS EXPOSED TO AIR.PERIOD! WHICH IS WHY ALL OF YOUR HYPOTHETICAL "OH MY GOD! I STEPPED ON THAT SAME PIECE OF GLASS AND GOTS THE AIDS!!!" STORIES ARE COMPLETELY STUPID, MISINFORMED, AND BORDERLINE HILARIOUS.But hey man, why inform yourself, when you can go on gut instinct, and ignorance?That's the Alabama Way.-F.Y.Y.P.S. If you can't keep your small child from walking on broken, bloody glass, maybe this whole parenting thing isn't for you. Might be time to buy a cat, or something.

cheryllora 12:08:01 AM Jul 03 2008

With everyone swishing their rear ends in the public pools I won't swim in one anyway, that is GROSS! It's like jumping into a cess pool. UGH!

cheryllora 12:06:01 AM Jul 03 2008

Why would anyone in their right mind want to risk infecting OTHER children with HIV? Apparently, if someone had been MORE cautious in the FIRST PLACE this little boy would not have HIV! Offended? I would be a LOT more offended if your adopted kid gave MY child that virus! It would destroy a healthy life just so that you won't be offended? Give me a break!

nazogrunty 06:53:47 PM Mar 15 2008

ಠ_ಠ

barbedwirebat111 04:26:37 PM Mar 02 2008

POOLS CLOSED DUE TO AIDS!

icanhasnewsn 08:09:43 PM Feb 26 2008

obviously if he gets a cut then someone else can get it as well. and just because it is in chlorine does not mean that it is safe because if chlorine could kill aids and hiv then im pretty sure we would have a cure for it.

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