Big Problem Hits Small South Dakota College Town

The case of an HIV-positive South Dakota college basketball player -- who was arrested last week after health officials discovered two new HIV infections in what they call "a web of sexual contacts" -- has rocked the college community of 13,000 people in a state that reported only 22 new HIV cases last year.

Nikko Briteramos, an 18-year-old freshman at tiny SiTanka Huron University, was charged with knowingly having unprotected sex since learning of his HIV status during a school blood drive. The 6-foot-7 center arrived in Huron in August from Chicago. Two individuals known to have had sexual contact with Briteramos have tested positive for the virus. "After that individual knew that he was HIV positive... he was discovered having unprotected sex with a partner who did not know," Gov. William Janklow said at a news conference Friday. "That, my friends, is no different from pointing a gun at someone and pulling the trigger."

Briteramos is the first person to be charged under a two-year-old South Dakota law that makes it a felony to intentionally expose someone to HIV. He is charged with five felony counts related to a single partner and faces up to 75 years in prison and $75,000 in fines. Since March, when the positive test was known, public health officials interviewed Briteramos and began contacting the list of recent sexual contacts he provided them. Janklow said that one woman provided names of 70 people who need to be informed of the problem.

Public health officials said the case has been "eye-opening" for people in a state where there has been little fear of contracting HIV/AIDS. "Now we are getting a lot of people off the street who have heard the risk factors and are scared and want to be tested," said state Secretary of Health Doneen Hollingsworth.

Other state health departments have been contacted to track down individuals who had contact with any of the three new cases of HIV. Hollingsworth said that, while officials believe most of the people were exposed through sex, they cannot rule out shared needles during drug use.

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