Needles. Syringes. Testing for infectious organisms.

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Don Saklad - 29 Jun 2004 21:28 GMT

Thank you all for your interest !

Would someone actually send along the name of a laboratory or names of laboratories
that would test needles, syringes for infectious organisms, a laboratory where a doctor
could have a needle, syringe tested in a case where the test results make a
difference in treating the patient ?...

Just because an organism is dead does not mean you can not test for dna. That is the
thing about dna that makes it testable days, weeks, years after the fact. DNA is tough,
resistant to deterioration. DNA is a persistent molecule.

See also
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=sci.med.nursing
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=sci.med

Reply to this Message

Michael Thomas - 30 Jun 2004 01:15 GMT

[]

So if you get stuck by a hypochondriac, should you get
tested together?

Signature

Michael Thomas (mike@mtcc.com http://www.mtcc.com/~mike/)

Green: see "Bush Hugger"

Reply to this Message

Winston - 30 Jun 2004 08:23 GMT

"Don Saklad" <dsaklad@nestle.csail.mit.edu> wrote...

> Thank you all for your interest !
>
> Would someone actually send along the name of a laboratory or names of laboratories
> that would test needles, syringes for infectious organisms, a laboratory where a doctor
> could have a needle, syringe tested in a case where the test results make a
> difference in treating the patient ?...

Sorry, but it ain't gonna happen. If there are laboratories that really
can perform such tests (I'm sure they can), it would probably be ILLEGAL
for them to do so, as the conventional Party line is that it is just
"impossible" to contract a deadly disease from an accidental needle stick.
Performing such tests would imply that disease transmission in this way
IS possible (or why else would you want to test the offending needle?),
and thus prohibited. I've seen enough medical shows where hospital
workers were jabbed and sent to "counseling" to re-educate them that
they have nothing to worry about... (but the goddamned "counselor"
will NEVER volunteer to jab himself with the same needle to prove how
safe it really is).

And don't laugh, the government already bans certain types of tests for
disease. The most recent example is the USDA/FDA refusal to allow the
U.S. cattle and meat processing industry to test all incoming cows for
Mad Cow disease. One meat processing plant actually spent millions of
dollars on a state-of-the-art on-site lab to test each carcass so that
the meat could be exported to Japan and other countries that have banned
U.S. beef, especially things like cow tongues which are unsellable in
the U.S. market but a high-priced delicacy in Japan. Naturally, the
USDA said no way and put a stop to it. USDA said that if one company
tests all carcasses, it would "send a message" to U.S. consumers that
untested beef was unsafe. So the processing plant is currently losing
$250,000 a day as it discards the very profitable tongues which can't
be exported to Japan.

As for AIDS, there are a number of home test kits for the HIV virus,
all of which the FDA has banned for sale in the U.S. For some
unfathomable reason, the FDA feels that Americans have no right to
test themselves for the virus, at least not in private.

So once again, no, there are no labs which will perform such a test for
you, even though such tests are very easy and inexpensive. We wouldn't
want to "send a message" that needle jabs are unsafe, now would we
comrade?

Reply to this Message