Girl Used Mother's Diabetes Testing Unit To Stick Other Children
<TEXT id=txt_posted>POSTED:</TEXT> 11:32 pm EDT April 28, 2005
<TEXT id=txt_updated>UPDATED:</TEXT> 9:03 am EDT April 29, 2005
<!--startindex-->PHILADELPHIA -- There is outrage in the Hunting Park area of Philadelphia after a third-grade girl pricked a classmate with needles.
The third-grader was suspended after she brought her mother's diabetes blood-testing needle to school and stuck 19 students, including one who later tested positive for HIV on a preliminary test.
District officials met with concerned parents Thursday night at Taylor Elementary School in North Philadelphia, where the 8-year-old stuck some students at the school's breakfast about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday and others in the classroom and at lunch.
The student probably will be moved to another school, said Paul Vallas, district chief executive officer. He said officials weren't sure whether the children were playing or the third-grader just stuck them.
Angry parents at Taylor Elementary School told WCAU-TV in Philadelphia that medical experts at St. Christopher's Hospital are warning them that their children might have been exposed to the HIV virus.
"I got a call today at 9 in the morning telling me that I have to go back to St. Christopher's because one of the kids came out positive for AIDS," said Maritza Ponce, a parent of one of the children who was pricked.
George Whittaker, 10, said the girl stuck him twice in the arm. "She just came up and poked me," Whittaker said.
Parents said that, as a precaution, doctors at St. Christopher's Hospital provided their children with medicine.
However, in a phone interview, Dr. Neil Fishman, an expert in infectious diseases at the Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania, said that the child who tested positive for HIV could not have been infected by the needle with which he was stuck on Wednesday. Preliminary tests can yield false positives and further testing is required, said Marla Gold, dean of the Drexel University School of Public Health.
"Assuming that the laboratory performed standard HIV testing, the child would have had to be infected at least several weeks ago. ... The risk of children getting infected by that needle stick is extremely low," Fishman said.
Paul Vallas, the chief executive officer of Philadelphia Schools, said he was going to investigate to find exactly how this happened and if anybody at the school was negligent.
The school is going to foot the bill for the children to be transported to the hospital for treatment, as necessary.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the risk of HIV infection after a needle stick is low, with an average of one in 300 cases leading to infection.
<TEXT id=txt_posted>POSTED:</TEXT> 11:32 pm EDT April 28, 2005
<TEXT id=txt_updated>UPDATED:</TEXT> 9:03 am EDT April 29, 2005
<!--startindex-->PHILADELPHIA -- There is outrage in the Hunting Park area of Philadelphia after a third-grade girl pricked a classmate with needles.
The third-grader was suspended after she brought her mother's diabetes blood-testing needle to school and stuck 19 students, including one who later tested positive for HIV on a preliminary test.
District officials met with concerned parents Thursday night at Taylor Elementary School in North Philadelphia, where the 8-year-old stuck some students at the school's breakfast about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday and others in the classroom and at lunch.
The student probably will be moved to another school, said Paul Vallas, district chief executive officer. He said officials weren't sure whether the children were playing or the third-grader just stuck them.
Angry parents at Taylor Elementary School told WCAU-TV in Philadelphia that medical experts at St. Christopher's Hospital are warning them that their children might have been exposed to the HIV virus.
"I got a call today at 9 in the morning telling me that I have to go back to St. Christopher's because one of the kids came out positive for AIDS," said Maritza Ponce, a parent of one of the children who was pricked.
George Whittaker, 10, said the girl stuck him twice in the arm. "She just came up and poked me," Whittaker said.
Parents said that, as a precaution, doctors at St. Christopher's Hospital provided their children with medicine.
However, in a phone interview, Dr. Neil Fishman, an expert in infectious diseases at the Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania, said that the child who tested positive for HIV could not have been infected by the needle with which he was stuck on Wednesday. Preliminary tests can yield false positives and further testing is required, said Marla Gold, dean of the Drexel University School of Public Health.
"Assuming that the laboratory performed standard HIV testing, the child would have had to be infected at least several weeks ago. ... The risk of children getting infected by that needle stick is extremely low," Fishman said.
Paul Vallas, the chief executive officer of Philadelphia Schools, said he was going to investigate to find exactly how this happened and if anybody at the school was negligent.
The school is going to foot the bill for the children to be transported to the hospital for treatment, as necessary.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the risk of HIV infection after a needle stick is low, with an average of one in 300 cases leading to infection.
