What Doctors Don't Tell YouAmericans given vaccines at a number of worksites may be at risk of infections from needles being reused or improperly sterilized.
Workers at a site in the US may be tested for HIV after a health officer gave them a flu jab with a used needle (JAMA, 19 January, 1994).
Employees at another office have also been offered the test after a physician punctured vials of vaccines with used needles.
In the first case, in the District of Columbia, a health officer merely wiped the needle clean with an alcohol swab before using it to inoculate the next employee. In the second, in Pennsylvania, the physician was seen to use the needle to open a fresh vial after it had been used for inoculation. He did, however, use a fresh needle each time.
Daniel Redwood DC
Tom Ferguson MD
