A high school student found a needle and syringe in a bottle by the side of a road and jabbed eight fellow students over the course of two days, raising serious health concerns, police and school officials said.
Students jabbed with the used needle were urged to get immediate medical attention to be vaccinated against hepatitis B. The incidents also posed a lower risk of hepatitis C and the virus that can lead to AIDS, but those diseases would not be expected to show in tests for months.
"He just walked up and stabbed me with a needle, and said you now have hepatitis," said student Ava Staples. She said she would be getting a blood test. "I'm pretty nervous."
The student who wielded the needle threw it away and police have not been able to recover it, said city police Officer Frank McCarty.
"We don't know what was on the needle that's why we're taking concern and asking that students be checked out by their physicians," he said.
Police said a 16-year-old student would be charged with eight counts of assault in the alleged attacks, which were reported Thursday and Friday.
The student, whose name authorities have not made public, also faced school discipline, said Superintendent Marilyn Grunewald.
"We absolutely will not tolerate this kind of behavior for students and there are still consequences for those who do not behave and put others in jeopardy," she said.
http://www.youneed2see.com/other/84/High_school_student_finds_needle,_pokes_classmates
Students jabbed with the used needle were urged to get immediate medical attention to be vaccinated against hepatitis B. The incidents also posed a lower risk of hepatitis C and the virus that can lead to AIDS, but those diseases would not be expected to show in tests for months.
"He just walked up and stabbed me with a needle, and said you now have hepatitis," said student Ava Staples. She said she would be getting a blood test. "I'm pretty nervous."
The student who wielded the needle threw it away and police have not been able to recover it, said city police Officer Frank McCarty.
"We don't know what was on the needle that's why we're taking concern and asking that students be checked out by their physicians," he said.
Police said a 16-year-old student would be charged with eight counts of assault in the alleged attacks, which were reported Thursday and Friday.
The student, whose name authorities have not made public, also faced school discipline, said Superintendent Marilyn Grunewald.
"We absolutely will not tolerate this kind of behavior for students and there are still consequences for those who do not behave and put others in jeopardy," she said.
http://www.youneed2see.com/other/84/High_school_student_finds_needle,_pokes_classmates
