Has anyone heard about the urban legend of HIV-infected heroin addicts sticking their infected needles in cooin return slots and bus seats? I heard about it the other day from an emergency room nurse.
-SnArF

yah, i have heard that one before.

i think it is probably based on a short period of time during the late eighties, were felons with syringes filled with purported HIV infected blood committed a series of usually non-violent crimes.

it didn't last tho, given that a gun is just so much more effective.

heroin addicts subscribed to more urban legends than most people you meet, tho... always have rituals that protect them from disease, from the cops, etc.

It may just be this messed crackhead that forgot his needle in the seat and the story just stayed as a "every crack addict does that" story
-tap-

I heard that they were placed in pay phones, in the reciever, or the coin slot, wherever they could be stuck...

Posted by Irish I heard that they were placed in pay phones, in the reciever, or the coin slot, wherever they could be stuck...

mabe it wasnt hobos or crazy people , maybe it was somebody or some organization that wanted people to have those deseise so they could profit from the money they will make by "curing them"

-alvin-

Posted by 6 Atomic 6 Garden 6 maybe it was somebody or some organization that wanted people to have those deseise so they could profit from the money they will make by "curing them"

i don't know about needles being hidden around, but this is definately one of the theories as to how HIV came about in the first place.

an interesting side note here is that the medical industry isn't in the business of "curing" disease - the last diseases they cured were Small Pox and Polio. they are in the business of treating disease, a much more lucrative process, as the patient never recovers but doesn't die right away.

Here's a couple links I found with some info on this. Basically they say that the HIV virus cannot live outside of a host for more than a few seconds. However, the first link has a short statement saying that in hypodermic needles, the virus can sometimes survive because the syringe is airtight and there is usually blood in the needle. However, it didn't say how long the virus could survive in the needle, and from what I've learned in the past, it wouldn't survive very long. Basically, you'd have to be in contact with the needle almost immediately after the druggie used it. That would explain why so many people got AIDS during the 70's and 80's: they would share their drug needles, and the time between uses was short enough for the virus to survive.

http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu/InSite.jsp?doc=2098.3e62&page=pr-04-02d

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/mole00/mole00032.htm

I've heard this as well, except the one I heard was that this would happen in movies in India.

Posted by Grozny I've heard this as well, except the one I heard was that this would happen in movies in India.

They probably targeted india cause they don't have avery good health system there and not everybody there knows about HIV and how they get it ...

-alvin-

Posted by 6 Atomic 6 Garden 6 They probably targeted india cause they don't have avery good health system there and not everybody there knows about HIV and how they get it ... -alvin-

not to mention the enormous heroin problem plagueing portions of india...

Heroin addicts have more important things to worry about than trying to infect the general public with HIV.

There was a lot of this same kind of talk in the rave scene a few years back. It was regarding people bumping into you and sticking you with a pin or needle and then puting a sticker on you saying "Hi, you have AIDS now".

I never saw it happen, but I did see a few people with the stickers. They all tested negative. Who knows if someone was really doing it at one point or not, but I think it falls into the category of the needles in payphones and the like...

i heard this one, only it was theatre/cinema seats that the needles were planted in.

In the version I heard, it was bloody razorblades hidden under car doorhandles.

I actualy saw an email listing all those places...

Same here, it was followed by a set of 'rumors' about other crimes that could surely be committed aginst you. I believe one of them was (not a direct quote but what I can remember) gang-members driving around without they're cars headlights on, the first person who flashed them to let them know this.. would be chased down and shot. The other was also about gang-members who would lure women outside with the sound of a crying baby, when the door was opened the woman would be raped so a possible 'member could gain entery to the gang'.

I've heard dozens of these over the years, but when I've searchings on the internet for proof I rarely found anything but rumors. I wrote a paper about almost this exact same thing in high school. I'm sure it has happened (which is sad) but at the same time it's one of those things no one can really proove or say they know someone who it happened to.

I believe there's a bit of truth in almost every urban legend like this. It's just surrounded with sensationalism and exaggeration.

Posted by Capone I believe there's a bit of truth in almost every urban legend like this. It's just surrounded with sensationalism and exaggeration.

lol.. someone probably found a used needle at a bus stop or something, and it turned into this...

God knows, I see so many needles here in Denver when I ride the bus. I heard from my brother that they put them in the seats of buses and when you sit down, you get stuck and then your infected. I can only see where this story is going...

Posted by stinger Basically they say that the HIV virus cannot live outside of a host for more than a few seconds.

Yep. Oxygen immediately kills the HIV virus.

...in hypodermic needles, the virus can sometimes survive because the syringe is airtight and there is usually blood in the needle. However, it didn't say how long the virus could survive in the needle, and from what I've learned in the past, it wouldn't survive very long. Basically, you'd have to be in contact with the needle almost immediately after the druggie used it. That would explain why so many people got AIDS during the 70's and 80's: they would share their drug needles, and the time between uses was short enough for the virus to survive.

It is more difficult for someone to catch an HIV infection by using syringes than we are led to believe. There needs to be a 100% airtight transmission. This means that from the time subject A injects heroin or whatever into their body, they need to immediately retract the little pushy-in thingy and STOP pulling while it is still in their body. Then, in transmission, they cannot let any air into the end of the needle, or the person receiving it could die of a stroke AND the HIV virus would be killed. Then it has to be injected directly into person B...

I don't know how the fuck they do it, really. Seems like something that you'd either have to consciously do or just have happen by chance, if you're loaded...

... When I was younger, I'd see TV shows with kids becoming "blood brothers" by pushing their picked scabs together and melding the blood between. My mom always told me never do that, "You could get diseases." Well... there's like a 1 in a million chance that THIS could lead to HIV, also. You'd need to form an airtight seal around the wound for a minimum of five minutes.... man, if I was 8 and doing that, I would get so damn bored...

Anyway. There's part of what I learned in "Contemporary Ideas" last year
Em