needles

18 Stories

After the Club, They Spotted the Puncture Mark

A mysterious wave of needle attacks is being reported in France and beyond

(Newser) - Across France, 302 people have reported being pricked out of the blue with needles at nightclubs or concerts in recent months. Doctors and multiple prosecutors are on the case, but no one knows who's doing it or why, and whether the victims have been injected with drugs—or indeed...

Cops: Robber's Weapon of Choice Was a Needle

Massachusetts woman claimed needle was infected with AIDS, say police

(Newser) - Police say a woman managed to rob a convenience store with a needle she claimed was infected with AIDS before leading officers on a car chase, reports MassLive . It remains unclear whether the needle was actually infected. Raynham Police responded to a convenience store about 6pm Monday after reports that...

Needles in Starbucks Bathrooms Are a Problem. Here's Company's Solution

Needle disposal boxes are coming to some locations

(Newser) - The newest amenity coming to Starbucks is a depressing one: needle disposal boxes. The company says that they will be installed at some locations because employees have found discarded bloody needles and syringes in bathrooms, USA Today reports. More than 3,750 workers have signed a petition asking for the...

Needles Keep Appearing in Australian Strawberries

#SmashAStrawb aims to support local growers amid investigation

(Newser) - Australia's "Smash a Strawberry" campaign can be easily misinterpreted if one isn't up to date on Australian slang. Here, "smash" refers to devouring a strawberry, rather than turning it into mush. Some might prefer to do the latter, however, after at least 100 reported cases of...

Australia Issues Scary Warning on Strawberries

Consumers are reporting finding needles inside them

(Newser) - Reports out of three Aussie states have strawberry lovers checking their fresh fruit carefully. The BBC and ABC Australia report that sewing needles have been found embedded in strawberries, from six different brands, that came out of supermarkets in Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria, per NSW police. Queensland Health...

3K Need HIV Tests in Surgery Tech's Drug-Stealing Case

Rocky Allen, accused of swapping syringes at Colorado hospital, tested positive for virus

(Newser) - Another bombshell Wednesday about an ex-surgical tech at a Colorado hospital who allegedly stole liquid painkillers by swapping syringes, per federal prosecutors: He has HIV, putting thousands of former patients at risk, the Denver Post reports. Rocky Allen, 28, accused of stealing fentanyl citrate in January from Swedish Medical Center...

Woman Gets First Transplant Necessitated by Needle Phobia

Diabetic patient couldn't handle her daily insulin shots

(Newser) - It's not too strange to hear about a diabetic undergoing a pancreas transplant. What's unusual here is that the transplant was necessitated by the UK patient's extreme fear of needles—the first time that's happened anywhere in the world, the BBC reports. Sue York, 55, has...

Acupuncture Needle Pulled From Guy's Stomach After 40 Years

He'd received the treatment for pain in 1974

(Newser) - It was 40 years ago that Xu Long had acupuncture to relieve stomach pain, and "the pain stopped immediately," he tells Central European News. But the treatment appears to have come with some serious complications. Xu had more recently been suffering from new pains in his back and...

Man Loses Needle in Arm, Finds It in ... Big Toe

Tattoo artist gets painful surprise 40 years later

(Newser) - An amateur tattooist who lost a half-inch needle in his arm was surprised to find it 40 years later—in one of his big toes, Australia's News Network reports. Ulf Bergström of Mala, Sweden, says he lost the needle while tattooing himself in 1974. He was worried enough...

Now Air Canada Has Needle-in-Sandwich Incident

No word on caterer involved

(Newser) - Two weeks after needles were discovered in sandwiches served on Delta flights out of Amsterdam, another needle has been found—this time on an Air Canada flight heading from Victoria to Toronto on Monday night. The sewing needle was found by a passenger in a prepackaged sandwich, and an Air...

Inside the Gnarly Task of Cleaning Up LA's Skid Row

Razor blades, drugs, dead rodents collected during city's sweep

(Newser) - It wasn't a task for the faint of heart: After nearly two weeks spent cleaning up LA's Skid Row, city officials walked away with five tons of trash. And what they found over a six-mile span is enough to make one's stomach turn—among hundreds of needles,...

Star Trek-Style Needleless Injections Now a Reality

High-pressure jet designed for those who hate needles

(Newser) - It's like something out of Star Trek: a needleless injection that can deliver medicine painlessly (well, nearly painlessly). Researchers at MIT have unveiled a high-pressure jet for delivering medicines to a range of depths beneath the skin, reports the Daily Mail . "We think this kind of technology ... gets...

Are North Korean Assassins Wielding Poison Needles?

Reports surface of activists supposedly getting pricked

(Newser) - As Goldfinger told James Bond, "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy's action." Three odd incidents in South Korea are being blamed on North Korea—and its poison needle-wielding assassins, reports the Los Angeles Times . In recent weeks, a South Korean pastor who helped...

New Vaccine Patch Promises Painless Injections

Microneedles dissolve just 0.5 millimeters into skin

(Newser) - The needle-based vaccine could soon go the way of the 8-track, thanks to a new, painless vaccine “chip” invented by a Japanese pharmacokinetics professor. The half-inch patch can contain as many as 300 microneedles, but you won’t feel them—they dissolve after penetrating just 0.5 millimeters into...

Docs Extract Life-Threatening Needles From Brazil Boy

Dozens still left in 2-year-old by father in bizarre ritual

(Newser) - Surgeons successfully removed four sewing needles today from the lung and near the heart of a Brazilian toddler, allegedly plunged into him by his stepfather during a month-long series of bizarre rituals. The surgery lasted nearly five hours, and the 2-year-old boy was in stable condition after the procedure. Dozens...

Drug Centers Hit by Worker Overdoses

Burnt-out harm reduction volunteers fall prey to addiction

(Newser) - Needle exchange programs have helped drastically cut rates of HIV infection among heroin users but often take a heavy toll on their volunteers, the Wall Street Journal reports. Unpaid or poorly paid staff members work long hours in tough inner-city conditions, often without proper training. All too often they end...

HPV Shot Extra Painful, Say Patients

Docs report patients fainting after stinging injection

(Newser) - Recipients of the new HPV vaccine are reporting that it's more painful than regular vaccines because not only does the needle hurt, but the vaccine itself stings as it's injected. Doctors have reported teenage girls fainting when getting the shot of Gardasil, although that may be in part because teenagers...

Chinese Woman 'Needled' for Being Female

26 needles embedded by grandparents who wanted a grandson

(Newser) - Chinese doctors have found an astonishing 26 sewing needles embedded in the body of a woman which they believe were inserted when she was a baby by grandparents who wanted a grandson. Some of the needles have pierced vital organs, and a broken one lies in the woman's brain. The...

18 Stories