Testing a needle for presence of heroin

[bingalpaws]

My fiance accidentally stepped on a needle in front of a pawn shop. Will a CVS drug test kit be able to tell us if there was heroin in it? If it can't, can anyone recommend one that will?

 

[Jackal]

I would no be at all worried about the possibility of H in the needle.

Tell the fiance to get tested blood tested for HIV, Hepatitis etc in three months time.

 

[bingalpaws]

Is it possible for us to test with the CVS drug kit for heroin, because that will determine whether or not we want to use harsher medicine to combat HIV.

The needle was on the ground in front of a pawn shop, so we want to determine whether it was used for H.

(will post pics of needle within 90 minutes.

 

[lyserg]

It doesnt have to be used for heroin for an STD such as AIDS to be in the needle. Also, the only way you would be able to get most of the harsher diseases she wouldve had to have an open wound. Did she have shoes on or something like sandles where their feet are exposed? Anyway, a CVS drug test will only tell you if its an opiate not if its heroin. It can also tell you if its cocaine, or amphetamines. Why did you save it? Picking it up makes transmission of a disease much more likely, that was retarted of you.

 

[bingalpaws]

sorry if the posts came off the wrong way, that was my father typing for me, i was @ hospital with my fiance.

I picked the needle up and put it in a water bottle, so we could possibly test it for HIV/AIDS. I wasn't aware that anything serious could be transmitted from me picking it up, i didn't touch anywhere near the actual needle. Even if I wasn't picking it up to bring it to the hospital for possible testing, I still would have picked it up and put it in a plastic bottle, then thrown away. Would you have just left it sitting there so people could keep getting poked?

This situation sucks, and I apologize if it came off in any 'well, if it was used for heroin, the likelihood of HIV/AIDS is higher' kind of way. I use H occasionally myself, I wasn't trying to insinuate anything, but knowing every fact will help us with knowing what to do next.

The thing is that if it does have HIV on it, the likelihood of her getting it is small, real small. However, there are drugs she can take for that (HIV postexposure prophylaxis stuff), but there's a 72 hour window. We would just start the regimen immediately, but the thing is that it's a harsh regimen, and the likelihood of her having caught something is low. We just got back from the hospital (where they couldn't do a thing, couldn't test her blood or the needle), so now I'm gg research everything I can so we can come to a proper decision about whether using the prophylaxis or not.

I don't even think posting a pic will help determine a thing, as it's a 30-somethign gauge needle with a small body, looks to be insulin-type, so I'm sure it could be used with H. I guess I'm thinking that if it were intentionally thrown on the ground after being used for shooting up, as opposed to being somehow accidentally dropped / left by someone wiht diabetes, that there would be a higher likelihood of the needle being contaminated with something serious. It's just a scary situation, I want to explore every detail so I can help her come to the best possible decision.

 

[bingalpaws]

lyserg, she was wearing shoes, it pierced those and her skin. She had a *very* tiny drop of blood come out of her foot, so it definitely got to her blood.

This is scary as hell I'm sure you can imagine, but luckily it does seem like the odds of transmission this way are EXTREMELY low, if the needle even had anything on it. (oh btw, i think I may have grabbed it off the ground with a bag, before putting it in the bottle, but that doesn't really matter now anyways)

 

[bingalpaws]

(btw, if anyone happens to know how long HIV/AIDS can actually linger on a used needle before it dies/goes away/etc, please let me know. Also, I've found that just getting poked has a ~ 30 / 10,000 rate of getting the recipient infected, so that's reassuring, considering this needle didn't necessarily have anything on it, and even if it did, the virus may have already died/metabolized/ or whatever viruses do)

 

[Madhatter4]

Her chances of contracting HIV or Hep from a dirty needle poke are pretty slim but if I were you I would use a CONDOM with her for at least 6 months .....it can take that long for a test to determine if she has either virus.....

 

[itsjustme]

(btw, if anyone happens to know how long HIV/AIDS can actually linger on a used needle before it dies/goes away/etc, please let me know. Also, I've found that just getting poked has a ~ 30 / 10,000 rate of getting the recipient infected, so that's reassuring, considering this needle didn't necessarily have anything on it, and even if it did, the virus may have already died/metabolized/ or whatever viruses do)

HIV won't survive after the blood (or other fluid containing it) is dry. don't know how much this helps you though because blood inside the needle will take longer to dry and there's no way of knowing whether the syringe was there a minute or a week before she stepped on it

 

[bingalpaws]

Her chances of contracting HIV or Hep from a dirty needle poke are pretty slim but if I were you I would use a CONDOM with her for at least 6 months .....it can take that long for a test to determine if she has either virus.....

she's my fiance, if she has aids I will too. I was about to prick myself with it just to comfort her, but realized that if I did that I may get it while she avoided it, screwing us both. I'm in my early 20's and have been with her almost 7 years, using a condom isn't a consideration.

I do appreciate the warning tho, but it's just a screwed situation. It's not even an option to not have it myself if she does, it would compromise the quality of the rest of her life, and therefore mine as well.

 

[bingalpaws]

HIV won't survive after the blood (or other fluid containing it) is dry. don't know how much this helps you though because blood inside the needle will take longer to dry and there's no way of knowing whether the syringe was there a minute or a week before she stepped on it

See that's the thing. The plunger seemed to be fully depressed, so any blood would be inside the needle.

In my opinion (my wannabe forensic opinion), the needle was left there, at the absolute earliest, in the morning, since there's dirt crusted into the grooves on the plunger.

I'm trying my hardest now to figure out the whole probability thing,
(% of people with needles who have aids) X (likelihood aids is still active on tip of needle) X (30/10,000 chance that this kind of contact would transfer the virus). We know the probability is extremely low, but I'm sure it goes w/o saying that she's freaking out. We know that there are drugs to take for this, but it's really harsh stuff, and even the people at the hospital said they wouldn't recommend it.

I know if i were reading this, I'd just think that this is a ton of worry over nothing, and i know logically that it is, but I'm scared as hell and she's freaking out, and we can use this treatment course, but it's almost guaranteed to be really, really hard on her. And we have 72 hours (minus 4) to start the treatment. I seriously wish that I hadn't put the goddamned needle in an empty water bottle, because then I could have checked if there was still moisture in the pin... damn. Can HIV deal with a normal outside temperature, or does it need to be at a relative human temp? This needle was in the 30's gauges, so if the virus was temperature sensitive, that would have needed to have been dropped there like immediately before she kicked it (accidentally, while walking)

 

[jscript]

i'm confused at the conclusion you are drawing between the needle being used for heroin and hiv infection. you don't think people who inject other drugs carry hiv?

i'm really sorry to hear about this, i wish your girl the very best. while the chances of infection are low, there's still a chance. for me personally it is a no-brainer to take medication to ensure she does not contract a disease.

people not disposing of their equipment properly gets me angry.

edit: just how harsh are the side effects of the medication?

 

[bingalpaws]

While there is compelling data to suggest that PEP after HIV exposure is extremely effective, there have been cases where it has failed. The regimen can be very demanding and have unpleasant side effects including malaise, fatigue, diarrhoea, headaches, nausea and vomiting [3]. (http://hab.hrsa.gov/tools/HIVpocketguide/PktGPEP.htm)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nucleoside_reverse_transcriptase_inhibitors#Adverse_effects

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevirapine#Adverse_effects

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelfinavir#Toxicity


Those are a sampling, the 3 wiki ones were just three I chose at random, one from each category of the 3 main categories she'd use (well, two or three, in her case it'd probably be two). The odds of having real problems using these are muuuuuch higher than the odds of her having HIV in the first place, so it's a shitty decision to make.

As far as saying the whole 'if you use H, you have HIV' thing, or implying it, that's not at all how that was meant to come across. We were in the hospital, I called my dad, had him log into my bluelight account (god how embarrassing is that lol, hope he hasn't pillaged through my posts... not many know the extent to which I enjoy drugs), it just came out hte wrong way. Being that we didn't know who the needle was from, I just figured if it were from a drug user, versus, say, someone dropping an insulin needle, that hte chances of HIV would likely be higher. I'd imagine the IV drug using population has a higher aids rate than the diabetic population. I didn't mean to single out heroin, this was kind fo me just having him put the question up, not trying to imply anything negative. I like heroin, shit, it's one of my fav drugs. Wasn't a dig at heroin, sometimes I forget that people frequently inject things besides heroin, but it was basically to find if I could test the needle. If i tested it with a CVS drug test kit, and found it was heroin, then I thought that may be a small tid bit to use when deciding what we'll do here.

Thanks for the best wishes, it's cooler now, I gave her 3 (weak) alprazolam/xanax pills, so she's much cooler now, watching a comedy in the other room while i'm online going over teh data.

Ya, that was the biggest dickhead move ever. If I ever saw someone just shoot in their car and toss teh uncapped needle on the ground, i'd probably pull them out of hte car and beat their face into the ground. It's just so fuct doing that, unless it was by accident, which i doubt. I mean the needle was just sitting in front of a pawn shop in a plaza, any little kid could've gotten pricked and screwed cuz of that retard's choice to just toss his needle.

Thanks for the input everyone, if anyone has anything to add, it's appreciated.

 

[plug in baby]

While there is compelling data to suggest that PEP after HIV exposure is extremely effective, there have been cases where it has failed. The regimen can be very demanding and have unpleasant side effects including malaise, fatigue, diarrhoea, headaches, nausea and vomiting

Do it! Take the drugs!

Yeah the side effects are unpleasant, but you have to weigh up the good and the bad....a month or so of extreme un-pleasantness to a lifetime of sickness, pain and heartache etc etc. Were you two planning to have children?

Be on the safe side, get her started on those drugs ASAP and in the interim abstain from any risky situations that may expose YOU to the possibility of disease's - unprotected sex etc etc. The sooner she starts the course of drugs, the sooner it is over.

Let us know how she goes.

 

[plug in baby]

Oh and have a look at this website: http://www.poz.com/

And people here might be able to help you: http://forums.poz.com/

 

[DarkCode]

Thought I'd mention, that the bacteria, and viruses that transmit sexually transmitted diseases, such as HIV / AIDS can not survive contact with the air. If she was poked with the tip of the needle, there is almost no chance she caught anything, except maybe tetnis or something if she hasn't had her shot for it recently. The only way someone would manage to catch something from a dirty needle would be to somehow have liquid still in the syringe enter into her blood stream, which guessing by what happened, and for future reference, didn't occur. Even if there was liquid in the tip that had not dried, the fact it was going through multiple layers would often mean that the liquid was trapped on one of the original layers of rubber or cotton, etc, before the tip had ever struck her foot, and even then, the liquid would resultantly interact with the air before entering into her bloodstream.

Eitherway, the odds still have the possibility for something to happen, which is why any interaction with a dirty needle should be taken not very lightly. Theres always the unknown possibility which is why caution should be taken, and why getting tested is very important. Its just a matter of being safe, and covering all your bases. Also, you should know that HIV/AIDS can not transmit through open pores, so him picking up the needle and placing it into a water bottle is not as harmful as believed, the interaction with the elements, etc, would most likely kill off any possible bacteria or viruses that were there on the surface transmitted from the use of the needle. It would be almost as harmful as picking up say a penny on the ground, I mean, everywhere there are micro-organisms, bacterium and viruses, doesn't mean that a needle is any different necessarily in terms of being able to transmit an illness to someone.

I think a lot of you should become more informed before you start touting the "all hell is breaking loose" type of talk, its not necessary, muchless correct. Its not like the woman reached her hand into the dirty needle box at a hospital and then the guy did the same just so that he could pull out the objects that pricked his fiance. Jeez...

 

[bingalpaws]

Do it! Take the drugs!

Yeah the side effects are unpleasant, but you have to weigh up the good and the bad....a month or so of extreme un-pleasantness to a lifetime of sickness, pain and heartache etc etc. Were you two planning to have children?

Be on the safe side, get her started on those drugs ASAP and in the interim abstain from any risky situations that may expose YOU to the possibility of disease's - unprotected sex etc etc. The sooner she starts the course of drugs, the sooner it is over.

Let us know how she goes.

Yeah that's what we're doing, but we're not weighing a lifetime of sickness, we're weighing a 1/a shitload chance of that, versus guaranteed problems for a month, that last for (Unknown yet, seems to depend on her and specific ones chosen). Also it's irrelevant to me if i get it from her, because if she has it i'll have it without hesitation. We are planning on having children, but not for 6 years (yes, we know the year because I want them later than her and we compromised lol). Thanks a ton for those links to poz, that seems to be saying that the risk is infinitely low. It's just tough weighing the pro's / con's, because it's a small chance of something scary versus a definite chance of something less scary.

Again, I really appreciate everyone's responses, and apologize again for the titling of this thread if it made me come off the wrong way. As stated, I use H occasionally (insufflated only tho), I was just of the mindset that a needle used for recreational drugs would have a higher chance of having a disease than, say, a diabetic's needle would, statistically speaking. I didn't mean to target H in specific, it is just the only thing I really even think of when IV usage comes to mind. Also wasn't in any way trying to say that that would make it much likelier, or anythign, but I just want to get all facts crystal clear so that she can make the best decision here.

 

[Canis aureus]

Is the likelihood of HIV lesser than hepatitis C? I've been informed that hepatitis C could live longer in the blood/needle. Am I right???

Indeed I have scared of getting it from wounds. (I don't have it according tests tho.)

But tell me (and others) could hep C live longer in contact with air, than HIV?

 

[narco anonomous]

hate to be an asshole but I have to wonder about the intelligence of someone who would knowingly contract HIV...8)

 

[bingalpaws]

(edit - not even gonna bother responding to that)