The Spread of Disease via Unsafe Injections

Hepatitis B Plagues China

About 60 percent of those who have had the disease caught it during childhood, usually during routine vaccinations.

Injection Safety and Technology - WHO

It is estimated that every year a billion injections are given to women and children through national immunization programmes. Up to half of these injections are currently thought to be unsafe. Reusing needles or syringes without proper sterilization, or improperly disposing of used injection equipment, puts the public and health workers at risk of cross infection with Hepatitis B or C, or HIV.

Multiple Injections Pose High Risk for Viral Hepatitis - Third International Conference on Therapies for Viral Hepatitis

Unsafe injection practices in hospital and outpatient settings account for a significant proportion of cases of viral hepatitis worldwide, said Harold Margolis, MD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.

"The incidence of viral hepatitis in a given population is a good indicator of the effectiveness of hospital infection control and injection safety practices in that setting," Margolis said. "A significant proportion of cases of viral hepatitis is iatrogenic."

Note:  "Iatrogenic" =  "Induced in a patient by a physician's activity, manner, or therapy.  Used especially of an infection or other complications  of treatment."  In other words, it means "caused by the doctor".

Injection safety: a global challenge - WHO

As we review the successes and failures in global health at the end of the twentieth century, an alarming pattern emerges suggesting that the "first do no harm" principle may be being violated on a grand scale as a result of unsafe injection practices.

Doctors' Dirty Needles Spread Hepatitis in China

Over One Million Die Every Year World Wide By Injections

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that every year unsafe injections result in 80,000-160,000 new HIV-1 infections, 8-16 million hepatitis B infections, and 2·3-4·7 million hepatitis C infections worldwide (this figure does not include transfusions).1

Together, these illnesses account for 1·3 million deaths and 23 million years of lost life.1

Even under the auspices of WHO regional immunization programmes, which constitute 10% of all mass vaccination campaigns, an estimated 30% of injections are done with unclean syringes that are commonly reused. And, for other medicinal injections, over 50% are deemed unsafe, with rates as high as 90% in some campaigns.1

Unsafe injections lead to global disease burden

NEW DELHI: Billions of injections-a vast majority of them unsafe and unnecessary-are being administered to patients globally, leading toserious disease and millions of deaths annually, a government scientist warned here at the International Conference on Harm Reduction this week.

FDA Clears GlaxoSmithKline's New Safe Syringe For Vaccine ...

The company estimates that up to 800,000 needlestick injuries and potential exposures to infectious diseases occur each year in the healthcare field.

Transmission of hepatitis B, hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency viruses through unsafe injections in the developing world: model based regional estimates - WHO

Thousands of millions of injections are delivered every year in developing countries, many of them unsafe, and the transmission of certain bloodborne pathogens via this route is thought to be a major public health problem.

Improving Immunization Safety in the Region - WHO

A safe injection is an injection that does not harm the recipient, does not expose the health care worker to any risk, and does not result in waste that is dangerous for the community.  Unsafe injection practices have been linked to the transmission of many pathogens between patients, including hepatitis, HIV, dengue fever and malaria.  Of all the adverse effects of unsafe injections, transmission of hepatitis B and hepatitis C viruses causes the heaviest burden of disease.  In many countries where hepatitis B and hepatitis C are highly endemic, unsafe injections account for a large proportion of infections.

SIGN - Safe Injection Global Network

The most common diseases acquired from unsafe injections are hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and AIDS.

Each year, unsafe injections worldwide account for an estimated 8 to 16 million new hepatitis B virus infections.

WHO Hepatitis B Fact Sheet

Worldwide, most infections occur from infected mother to child, from child to child contact in household settings, and from reuse of unsterilized needles and syringes.