Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1991. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Miami Herald (MH) - Tuesday, May 14, 1991
David Hancock; Herald Staff Writer
Three weeks after he accidentally pricked his finger on a discarded hypodermic syringe, Miami police officer Mario Roman spends his days at home, fighting off the side effects of the anti-AIDS drug AZT.
"I've talked with his wife. She said the drug knocks him out physically, makes him sleep all day," said Miami police spokesman George Law.
Roman, who has tested negative for the HIV virus, is taking no chances. AIDS experts say that Roman's case illustrates a point: Recent media coverage about hypodermics found in South Florida has overstated the chances of AIDS transmission from the discarded needles.
"It is a scary thought, but I think coverage has been overblown," said Dr. Eleni Sfakianaki, medical executive director of the Dade County Health Unit. "If the syringe has been out there a couple hours, the chances of getting AIDS are so small it's negligible."
The needle that stuck Roman, as well as three hypodermics recovered in Coconut Grove, a needle in Miami and two in Broward County, all showed the presence of HIV, according to county health care workers.
However, tests don't reveal whether the user of the needle had full-blown AIDS or was merely HIV positive. Nor do the tests reveal the quantity of AIDS virus in the blood nor whether the fragile virus was active and capable of infecting anyone.
The AIDS virus is delicate and quickly becomes inactive outside the body. Within the first hour after leaving the body, 90 percent of the AIDS virus becomes noncontagious, said Kent Taylor, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. Within the second hour, 90 percent of the remaining virus also becomes inactive.
"Within several hours, it's not infectious to a great extent," Taylor said. "It's more of a theoretical risk than a real risk. But it is possible."
Also, an accidental prick from a contaminated needle is not as dangerous as the case of someone who purposely injects himself with a contaminated syringe.
The most common transmission of AIDS occurs during sexual intercourse and when drug users share needles. In a typical case of drug-use transmission, contaminated blood from one drug user remains in a syringe that is passed to a fellow user, who then injects the blood-tainted drug mixture into a vein.
By comparison, medical workers or other people pricked by a needle generally haven't hit the plunger of the hypodermic syringe that would inject the contaminated blood into the body. In the case of discarded needles, no one knows how long the bloody syringes have been outside.
Health officials are ambivalent about the recent extensive media coverage about needles in South Florida.
They say it's important to educate the public to be wary of used medical products containing blood. But they say it's very unlikely that a needle that has set outside for hours or days could infect someone with the AIDS virus.
"You need to hit home that it's a serious situation," said Dr. Lionel Resnick, a nationally known AIDS researcher based at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach. "The risk exists. It's small if you go by numbers, and large if you're the one who gets stuck."
WHAT TO DO
If you are pricked by a discarded needle:
* Immediately squeeze the puncture wound to expel blood.
* Clean and disinfect the injured area.
* Check with a doctor.
* Take care when saving the needle for testing.
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