BENNETT, Colo. – A Colorado mother is in a rage after learning her son put a used condom in his mouth on the school playground because he thought it was a balloon.



The mother, who was identified only as Alice in media reports, told 7News her 8-year-old son was playing at Bennett Elementary School in Fort Collins when he picked up the used condom, put it to his mouth and tried to blow it up.

A teacher recognized the prophylactic and took action right away, Alice said.

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“When she took the ‘balloon’ out of his mouth, it was a used condom,” she said. “He’s at risk for HIV, Hepatitis C, Herpes, Gonorrhea, Chlamydia.”

The teacher cleaned the boy up, and called his mother to tell her what happened. Another teacher trashed the condom, according to emails obtained by 7News.

The child’s teacher said the condom “wasn’t fresh,” but “looked like it had been used.”

Had the school kept the condom, it could have been tested for diseases, but since it’s now gone, the student will be subjected to repeated blood tests for a year before the family knows for certain whether he’s infected, Alice said. School officials acknowledged the incident, and said the district plans to install surveillance cameras at the playground, but did not admit fault in the incident, 7News reports.

“I guess I’d leave that up to the liability insurance as far as what coverage we have,” superintendent Dennis Veal told the news site.

Alice said she submitted a claim to the Colorado School Districts Self Insurance Pool to cover medical expenses related to the sexually transmitted disease testing, but was denied.

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A response letter stated the district is not liable for any damages from the “regrettable” incident, according to ABC 10.

“They will not pay for it because it’s taxpayers money and I feel like I’m a taxpayer. So, I mean, this is my son and they failed to protect him,” Alice said.

The local health department told Alice her son will probably be okay, because the risk of infection is low, especially if the condom was outside for a long time, according to the news site.

But the Huffington Post reports that herpes can spread easier than some might think.

“Cass of preteen children contracting STDs at school are rare. However, last year an Oklahoma mother claimed that her 1-year-old got herpes from an infected teacher at a day care,” according to the news site.

“Ryan Brown, a pediatrician at Oklahoma University Medical Center, told local news media at the time that herpes is ‘very easily spread, by touching and rubbing something else or saliva.’”

Others, like Reproductive Health Reality Check blogger Martha Kempner, think there’s a very slim chance Alice’s son contracted an STD because most don’t live outside of the human body for very long.

“There are many factors that would contribute to his chances of getting a disease: how long the condom had been on the playground; how much semen was in it; whether it had dried; the position he held it in when he put it to his mouth; and whether he had any open sores on his lips or mouth,” Kemptner wrote.

“Mostly, though, the determining factor would be whether the semen contained any bacteria or viruses, the concentration of such germs, and how well they hold up outside the body.”

She pointed to information at AIDS Map, “an international clearinghouse of HIV and AIDS information,” that shows “HIV transmission has not been reported as a consequence of contact with spillages of blood, semen, or other bodily fluids.”

Kemptner also highlighted Center for Disease Control and Prevention information that shows Gonorrhea and herpes viruses typically die within seconds outside of the body. Hepetitus C can survive outside of the body for three weeks, but there’s very low risk of transmission outside of blood-to-blood contact.

“The young boy involved is likely embarrassed – especially if he knows his story has gone international – but he should not be afraid,” Kemptner wrote.

“We should, however, probably remind our children not to put things they find on the ground in their mouths: other germs, like those that cause the common cold and the dreaded stomach flu, can survive outside the body for awhile and live on objects.”