April 30, 2005
HIV fears as girl of 8 attacks classmates
By A Correspondent
AN EIGHT-YEAR-OLD girl pricked 19 classmates with her mother’s diabetes blood-testing needle, and one of them tested positive for HIV in a preliminary test, health officials said.
The officials added that the virus could not have been contracted from the needle, adding that preliminary tests can yield false positives.
The risk to students who were pricked after the possibly infected child depended on factors including how deep the needle went, they said.
The girl used the needle at breakfast, at lunch and in the classroom at Taylor Elementary School in Philadelphia on Wednesday.
It was about a centimetre long and stuck on the end of what looked like a pen, according to school officials. They were unable to say why the pupil did it.
She was suspended, Paul Vallas, the school district’s chief executive, said.
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says that the risk of HIV infection after a needle prick is low, with an average of 1 in 300 cases leading to infection. (AP)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1591363,00.html
HIV fears as girl of 8 attacks classmates
By A Correspondent
AN EIGHT-YEAR-OLD girl pricked 19 classmates with her mother’s diabetes blood-testing needle, and one of them tested positive for HIV in a preliminary test, health officials said.
The officials added that the virus could not have been contracted from the needle, adding that preliminary tests can yield false positives.
The risk to students who were pricked after the possibly infected child depended on factors including how deep the needle went, they said.
The girl used the needle at breakfast, at lunch and in the classroom at Taylor Elementary School in Philadelphia on Wednesday.
It was about a centimetre long and stuck on the end of what looked like a pen, according to school officials. They were unable to say why the pupil did it.
She was suspended, Paul Vallas, the school district’s chief executive, said.
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says that the risk of HIV infection after a needle prick is low, with an average of 1 in 300 cases leading to infection. (AP)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1591363,00.html
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