Shop workers infected with HIV from needles.

[RosaMoline]

First and foremost, apologies for linking to a Daily Mail headline.
I was quite taken aback when I saw this. Can it really be true? It sounds awfully like a variation of the urban myths that were circulating in the 80s/90s.
I was under the impression that it’s actually quite difficult to contract HIV via this route. I know that healthcare workers are given prep if they have a needle stick injury as a matter of precaution. For addicts, obviously that’s different as they’re infecting directly into the bloodstream.
Hopefully, someone more knowledgeable will be along shortly to enlighten me.

Shoplifters are infecting staff with HIV after needle attacks

https://mol.im/a/12521727

It does sound like an urban myth, doesn't it. A quick google suggests the chance of getting HIV this would be less than 1%...for 3 employees to be infected, have hundreds of Iceland staff really been attacked in this way?!

I feel desperately sorry for those affected, but I can’t help feeling sceptical.

"Three of our store colleagues are now HIV positive as a result of these needle attacks."

The idea of victims being infected with HIV after being attacked by people with infected needles has long been a dark urban myth, but Mr Walker's comments show this has now become a reality.

No mate that's still just your anecdote unless you want to back it up with some police/medical confirmation.

How on earth would you prove it? John Smith who works at Iceland reports being pricked by a needle in a scuffle with a shoplifter - later brings a doctor's letter to work confirming he's HIV positive. How do you know he wasn't HIV positive beforehand?

From what I know, HIV is actually a very fragile virus. It doesn’t survive very long when exposed to the air. It’s a leap of faith to suggest that the perpetrator sticks the needle in themselves, then into the victim, thus transferring the virus successfully.

My partner briefly worked as a security guard for a big store and there was a vagrant who would threaten them with needles, this was 6-7 years ago. They used to move him away from begging outside and approaching people because he’d get a bit arsey to say the least. He would scare elderly people terribly.

His manager explicitly said to them all you have mine and the stores full backing to punch his lights out if he threatens you with a needle.

I would question this. It's difficult to pass on HIV in this way and I don't think attacks with needles are happening enough to make this true. Would also have to question how they could be certain the employees didn't already HIV.

https://www.nat.org.uk/press-release/statement-national-aids-trust-response-needle-stick-injuries-and-misinformation-hiv

I'm honestly shocked by that.

Why is the Iceland boss propagating this myth I wonder?

That's what I thought but why on earth is someone in his position saying that?

Looking at the comments in the Mail article, a lot of them believe it. I call BS.

I work in HIV and I don't know anything about the veracity of these stories - I mean, it is the Daily Fail. 🙄But certainly, it is biologically plausible. If someone who has HIV and critically is not on treatment (treatment makes it nearly impossible to transmit HIV to anyone else), filled up a syringe and injected it into the right spot into the blood supply (so they'd have to hit a vein, not muscle), it is absolutely possible. It's how HIV is transmitted through shared injecting equipment.

That said, what I think is more likely is that this is just a guy getting interviewed by the Daily Fail making up a bonkers story (I mean, who goes around disclosing his employees' HIV status anyway?!?) because he is being well compensated. Or these people who work together do all have HIV, but transmission happened in another way than is being described (through sex, through sharing injecting equipment, for example, injecting steroids which is not that uncommon). I know of people who claim to have acquired HIV through very 'innocuous' means (one of them a needle attack actually, another through a blood transfusion), and my personal belief, unfortunately, is that these are the stories they tell people because HIV is so stigmatised and the behaviour around HIV acquisition is also quite stigmatised, that it's easier for them to talk about than to talk about sex.

I felt super bad for feeling sceptical when I read this... My immediate thought was that some shop workers had become infected from each other and used this as a cover story....I'm slightly glad I'm not the only one thinking this....

I used to work in a supermarket in South London in the early 90s and a prolific shoplifter than used to have dirty needles and threaten to stab you saying with them saying they were infected with HIV.

I wonder if anyone could ask the Iceland boss on Twitter (or X as it’s called now) to back up his claims?
Thanks to those who’ve replied. I knew I was right I’m feeling sceptical.

That's exactly what my first thought was when I saw the news story. I am very sceptical that what they're saying is true.

Needle threats are very common, but along with others I am very skeptical that you could actually transmit HIV that way.

I have to be honest, my first thought was that these staff members feel they have something to hide e.g. closeted or having an affair and are reaching for any other explanation. It does sound far fetched. The Iceland boss is a known big "character" too.

If he (Richard Walker) has just blindly stated this without anything to back it up, then it’s highly irresponsible scaremongering. Someone needs to call him out on it. It’s an old, old urban myth that’s done the rounds countless times before.

The odd one or two people in the comments (DM) that are calling this BS are getting massively red arrowed and being called idiots etc. How gullible people are when it comes to the media!
Have noticed it’s only the tabloids reporting on this (Mail, Mirror, Sun) none of the reputable newspapers. Says it all really.

I suspect that they were stuck with a needle and tested over the period of six weeks, starting from not being positive to testing positive around six weeks.

what we don’t know, if this is true, is if this relates to one incident where three employees were stuck with the same needle

what we don’t know, if this is true, is if this relates to one incident where three employees were stuck with the same needle

It seems from the article that it happened years ago. Which is pretty convenient because now no one can actually assess accuracy if this was in fact due to needles. I suspect if this was the case it would have been much bigger news at the time.

1 needle attack and the staff sleeping with each other would result in hiv being passed on over a number of years.
It's probably not 3 separate needle incidents.

But wouldn’t that be the point. If it happened last week then the employees would be easily identifiable. I’m not saying that this is a true story but I’m not ruling it out just yet.

However, this seems to be linking an old issue with the current one but they are two different problems.

HIV is actually quite difficult to transmit in this way. Hepatitis B or C, on the other hand, would be a significant risk.