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To prevent HIV and other blood-borne
infections, syringes should never be shared. However, many injecting drug users
ignore this warning, thus significantly contributing to the spread of HIV and
other infectious diseases. In a recently released study, William A. Zule and
several other researchers contend that changing the current syringe design
could almost completely eliminate HIV transmission caused by needle sharing.
The researchers show that when the
plunger on a syringe is fully depressed, a small amount of fluid remains in an
area called the “dead space.” Researchers believe that a new syringe design
with less dead space can reduce the amount of blood trapped in the dead space
by a factor of a thousand. In this way, they are reducing the amount of virus
left to transmit the disease. The researchers used a simulation model, to
illustrate that changing to low-dead-space syringes could reduce annual HIV
infections acquired by sharing syringes to almost zero in eight years.
The researchers acknowledge that
there are barriers to making the new syringes available worldwide, but they
maintain that changing to low-dead-space syringes could reduce transmission of
disease to injecting drug users and their families.
The study, “Are Major Reductions in
New HIV Infections Possible with People Who Inject Drugs? The Case for Low
Dead-Space Syringes in Highly Affected Countries,” was published in the
International Journal of Drug Policy (2013; 24 (1): 1-7).
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
