People should not underestimate the problem. There needs to be a lot more attention paid to this. Any given stick in San Francisco carries significant risk because of the high prevalence of HIV in the population. The frequency of needle sticks places healthcare workers in the category of dangerous professions. In fact, there have been at least four documented cases of healthcare workers contracting HIV through needle sticks at SFGH alone.
Needle sticks are a real problem among students as well.
In 1991, a medical student contracted HIV through a needle stick. They are not covered under workman's compensation. When the virus is cleared, the immune system retains memory such that the T-cells can mount an even quicker response against it, should reinfection occur. All Rights Reserved. Synapse is a weekly student-written publ ication with an estimated readership of 9,000.