BACKGROUND When shared by people who inject drugs, needles and syringes with different dead space may affect the probability of HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission differently. METHODS We measured dead space in 56 needle and syringe combinations obtained from needle and syringe programs across 17 countries in Europe and Asia. We also calculated the amounts of blood and HIV that would...

OBJECTIVE To determine amount of syringes used in the hospital and extent of contact with blood and body fluids of these syringes. MATERIAL AND METHODS Syringe use was surveyed at a tertiary care center for one week; syringes were classified into the following four categories according to use: a) contained blood; b) contained other body fluids (urine, gastric secretion, cerebrospinal fluid, w...

The purpose of this study was to compare daily changes in the concentration of atropine or ephedrine sulfate solutions that had been stored up to 4 days in plastic or glass syringes. Sets of three plastic and one glass syringe were used for each drug; the glass syringes acted as controls. Each set of syringes was labeled as day 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4. Syringes with medication were laid horizontally, ...

WHO and its partners recommend the use of auto-disable syringes, "bundled" with the supply of vaccines when donor dollars are used, in all mass immunization campaigns, and also strongly advocate their use in routine immunization programmes. Because of the relatively high price of auto-disable syringes, WHO's Technical Network for Logistics in Health recommends that activities be initiated to en...

The retention of nitrous oxide in samples of nitrous oxide in air held in disposable plastic syringes, glass syringes and custom-made nylon film bags was studied by means of gas chromatography at intervals of 90 min, 24, 48 and 120 h after filling the containers. After 24 h the nylon bags retained a mean concentration of 94.5% of the original concentration of nitrous oxide. The disposable plast...

BACKGROUND "Low dead space" syringes with permanently attached needles retain less fluid, blood, and HIV after use than standard "high dead space" syringes. This reduces the probability of HIV transmission if they are shared by people who inject drugs (PWID). The World Health Organization recently recommended that needle and syringe programs (NSP) offer clients low dead space syringes. The succ...

Currently, polymer-based prefillable syringes are being promoted to the pharmaceutical market because they provide an increased break resistance relative to traditionally used glass syringes. Despite this significant advantage, the possibility that barrel material can affect the oligomeric state of the protein drug exists. The present study was designed to compare the effect of different syring...

BACKGROUND The United States (U.S.) approved use of federal funds for needle and syringe programs (NSPs) in December 2009. This study compares syringe disposal practices in a U.S. city with NSPs to a U.S. city without NSPs by examining the prevalence of improperly discarded syringes in public places and the self-reported syringe disposal practices of injection drug users (IDUs) in the two citie...