The parents of three children aged five, six and seven are anxiously awaiting test results after pricking themselves with used needles as they played outside their home.
Two siblings and their five-year-old friend were in a vacant lot near their home in Ridgewood, Perth, when a neighbour spotted something was wrong.
When Jodie Timms asked them what they were talking about, they responded ‘sheepishly’ before one of the children pulled a needle from his pocket, Seven News reported.
Two brothers, aged six and seven, and their friend, five, found syringes while playing metres from their home in Perth
The boys pricked themselves with the needle and now anxiously wait until they can be tested for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV
They were then taken to Joondalup Health Campus.
The boys’ father, Daniel Lekis, is just grateful Ms Timms was paying attention.
He is afraid his children’s lives will change and wants nobody else to have to go through this.
Now his children and their friend will have to wait six weeks to be tested for hepatitis C, hepatitis B and HIV.
They will then needed to be tested six weeks after that as in some people who are co-infected with hepatitis C and HIV, the results of the first blood tests may be unclear or show a negative result.
The siblings’ father, Daniel Lekis, is just happy a neighbour saw his kids and told him what had happened
‘It may be necessary to have ongoing blood tests that specifically look for the virus [PCR test] in order to make an accurate diagnosis’, according to Hepatitis Australia.
Doctors say that the puncture wounds are shallow and say it is unlikely the boys caught anything.
The Australian Department of Health states that there are different syringe collection procedures for each state or territory but the ‘preferred option for disposal is to contact the Needle Clean Up Hotline or local council in your area’.
It said that you should never throw used needles household waste or recycling bins or flush it down the toilet.
The Health Department also recommends that if you want to dispose of a syringe yourself you should take a hard plastic container with a screw top and put it next to the needle and syringe.
Then, staying away from the needle, pick the syringe up by the barrel and put it needle first into the container and seal it tightly.
You should then place the container in a needle and syringe disposal bin if there is one available or call the local council.