Jabs in the dark: injecting equipment found in prisons, and the risks of viral transmission

Abstract

Injecting drug users in prisons may reuse and share contaminated injecting equipment, increasing their risk of infection with blood-borne viruses. We examined 58 syringes found in three metropolitan Adelaide prisons during a one-year period: 95 per cent were one millilitre volume; blood was visible in 24 per cent; 58 per cent indicated repeated use; 33 per cent were wrapped in plastic; and 26 per cent had detachable needles, allowing more blood to be trapped in the dead space between the syringe barrel and needle than with the fixed-needle variety. The nature and condition of some of these syringes suggested they might transmit contaminated blood. The ineffectiveness of present approaches to keeping injecting equipment out of prisons demands a more enlightened approach to harm minimisation. With doubts cast on the efficacy of bleach, education should be supported by practical means to reduce transmission of viruses. Provision of sterile injecting equipment is a possible option.