Are there any recommendations for using alcohol or hydrogen peroxide for disinfecting needles?
What about other disinfection methods? Cleaning with alcohol and hydrogen peroxide may reduce the risk of HIV transmission through shared drug injection equipment compared with taking no steps to clean/disinfect the needle, syringe, and other injection equipment. However, bleach has been found to be effective against HIV in addition to being widely available and inexpensive. Other chemicals may have a variety of disadvantages such as toxicity or inability to penetrate residual blood and other organic materials. Do you recommend testing of persons who have been using the old methods? We recommend that persons involved in behaviors that may place them at risk of HIV infection, such as injecting drug use, be routinely tested for HIV, usually at 6-month intervals. It does not matter what type of disinfection procedure, if any, has been used–injecting drugs is extremely dangerous for many reasons. What referrals can we use for needle acquisition/exchange? Where are needle exchange programs
