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WHY AM I READING THIS? WHY AM I READING THIS? :eek!!!!: :sob:

(In case anyone is wondering I have a phobia of needles and bloodtests and reading this for me is worse than reading any horror book.)
 
HIV fears after needle attacks

"HIV fears after needle attacks

Three await test results

THREE people face an agonising three-month wait for the results of HIV tests after a spate of terrifying needle attacks in the town centre.

Police believe the same man is responsible for at least two of the attacks, which took place in broad daylight in The Oracle, near Broad Street Mall and in Friar Street in September, October and November.

The victims, who were all out shopping when they were attacked, are waiting for the results of HIV and hepatitis tests.

One of them, a 33-year-old mother-of-three was waiting for a bus outside Broad Street Mall on October 6 when she was attacked.

She told the Evening Post: “I felt a
stabbing pain in my bottom. I used to be a nurse so I knew at once that it was a syringe. I looked round and saw a man kneeling down near me. He looked up at me and smiled.

“I was at the bus stop outside Broad Street Mall. I think he must have waited until the bus came so I was distracted, looking in my purse for my money.”

The man ran off and within seconds the true horror of what had happened began to dawn on her.

The woman, who has been scared to leave her house ever since the incident and didn’t want to be identified, said: “The syringe could have been infected with anything – hepatitis, HIV.

“I have been told by the police that four other people have experienced this and you have to ask what kind of person is going round doing this.”

The woman from South Reading has already had blood tests and expects her results later this month. She said: “I have been so horrified and upset about this. I have had to have sedatives from my doctor.

“All I can think about is my children.

“I’ve had counselling, but I still don’t want to go outside. I’m terrified that this man could find out where I live. Hopefully my tests will come back negative, but until I know, I just have to live with this.

“If this person is going round doing this, he must be very, very sick.”

The woman’s attacker is described as a medium-built black man, between 5ft 8in and 6ft tall, wearing a grey jacket and with very short hair.

He was unshaven and had uneven pigmentation across his face. He was standing with an Asian man.

PC Roger Parsons of the Reading town
centre patrol is investigating the series of
terrifying incidents.

He said: “At the moment we don’t know if this is a stupid prank, or something more sinister. We don’t know if it was a sewing needle or a syringe – but we certainly think at least two of the attacks were committed by the same person.

“All the victims are still awaiting results of their blood tests, and it’s this wait that’s the most aggravating feature of these attacks – the injuries were not particularly painful at the time. They are just random attacks – I don’t think there is anything anyone can do to protect themselves.”

The first assault took place on Saturday, September 11, when a 40-year-old Henley man shopping in HMV in Friar Street noticed blood on his forearm. Wiping it away, he saw a mark that could have been left by a needle.

However, because he did not realise he had been stabbed until then, he was unable to give police a description of his attacker.

In the most recent stabbing, which took place at The Oracle Riverside on Sunday, November 28, an 18-year-old woman from Hertfordshire was putting something in a bin when she was stabbed in the top of her leg.

Police said she noticed a red dot and
bleeding, and it looked like she had been stabbed with a syringe.

Anyone with information about these assaults can contact PC Parsons on 08458 505 505, or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. "

This is somewhat strange behaviour and reminds me of something I must have read in FT in times past... Are there any other cases of random needle attcks?

[Emp edit: I've changed your size setting to quote as the small type is difficult for some people to read.]
 
well well well! i knew I'd seen something before.

Thanks for the help with the post - first time I have ever tried a new subject and I wasn't sure how to go about it.
 
Clearly, if the victims are not noticing the wounds until sometime later (IE they don't notice someone sticking a sharp needle in them), then we are dealing with a trained medical professional.

It takes skill, more skill than one would expect even from an experienced drug user, to give an injection without the patient feeling anything. (Assuming they weren't unconcious or something,)

On the matter of it being UL or not, a colleague of mine was stabbed with a syringe when he was leaving work late one night. He surprised his attacker who was crouching between two cars, or a car and a tree or something, and they leapt up and stuck him with a syringe, He had to go through the testing process, and I believe he's OK.
 
anome said:
On the matter of it being UL or not, a colleague of mine was stabbed with a syringe when he was leaving work late one night. He surprised his attacker who was crouching between two cars, or a car and a tree or something, and they leapt up and stuck him with a syringe, He had to go through the testing process, and I believe he's OK.

Such things do happen. I knew a security guard who was threatend with a syringe when he tried to 'eject' a shop lifter from the supermarket I was working in.

I'd still have my doubts about this story though. It seems a bit too...well it seems a little URLish to me.
 
I have it!

I know what I'd noticed:

It's the 3 month wait! Unless I'm mistaken a HIV test dosn't take 3 months to come in. They could be refering to the 'widow period' between infection and the antibodies showing up in the blood but this is a six month not three month period.

I'd say it's rather iffy.
 
Mystery needle stabber panic!

Here's the front page from the Reading Evening Post this Monday:
13/12/2004 - HIV fears after needle attacks



Three await test results

THREE people face an agonising three-month wait for the results of HIV tests after a spate of terrifying needle attacks in the town centre.

Police believe the same man is responsible for at least two of the attacks, which took place in broad daylight in The Oracle, near Broad Street Mall and in Friar Street in September, October and November.

The victims, who were all out shopping when they were attacked, are waiting for the results of HIV and hepatitis tests.

One of them, a 33-year-old mother-of-three was waiting for a bus outside Broad Street Mall on October 6 when she was attacked.

She told the Evening Post: “I felt a
stabbing pain in my bottom. I used to be a nurse so I knew at once that it was a syringe. I looked round and saw a man kneeling down near me. He looked up at me and smiled.

“I was at the bus stop outside Broad Street Mall. I think he must have waited until the bus came so I was distracted, looking in my purse for my money.”

The man ran off and within seconds the true horror of what had happened began to dawn on her.

The woman, who has been scared to leave her house ever since the incident and didn’t want to be identified, said: “The syringe could have been infected with anything – hepatitis, HIV.

“I have been told by the police that four other people have experienced this and you have to ask what kind of person is going round doing this.”

The woman from South Reading has already had blood tests and expects her results later this month. She said: “I have been so horrified and upset about this. I have had to have sedatives from my doctor.

“All I can think about is my children.

“I’ve had counselling, but I still don’t want to go outside. I’m terrified that this man could find out where I live. Hopefully my tests will come back negative, but until I know, I just have to live with this.

“If this person is going round doing this, he must be very, very sick.”

The woman’s attacker is described as a medium-built black man, between 5ft 8in and 6ft tall, wearing a grey jacket and with very short hair.

He was unshaven and had uneven pigmentation across his face. He was standing with an Asian man.

PC Roger Parsons of the Reading town
centre patrol is investigating the series of
terrifying incidents.

He said: “At the moment we don’t know if this is a stupid prank, or something more sinister. We don’t know if it was a sewing needle or a syringe – but we certainly think at least two of the attacks were committed by the same person.

“All the victims are still awaiting results of their blood tests, and it’s this wait that’s the most aggravating feature of these attacks – the injuries were not particularly painful at the time. They are just random attacks – I don’t think there is anything anyone can do to protect themselves.”

The first assault took place on Saturday, September 11, when a 40-year-old Henley man shopping in HMV in Friar Street noticed blood on his forearm. Wiping it away, he saw a mark that could have been left by a needle.

However, because he did not realise he had been stabbed until then, he was unable to give police a description of his attacker.

In the most recent stabbing, which took place at The Oracle Riverside on Sunday, November 28, an 18-year-old woman from Hertfordshire was putting something in a bin when she was stabbed in the top of her leg.

Police said she noticed a red dot and
bleeding, and it looked like she had been stabbed with a syringe.
Hmmm......spooky..........
 
Although superficially like the needle panic ULs (although some reports do appear to be true so....) it seems closer to the various mass hysteria outbreaks like the various hair cutters, slashers and prickers.
 
This needs to be merged with

[Emp edit: Merge done so linked removed - please use the reorganisation thread for this kind as it might not get missed otherwise.]
 
Actually, although there is a UL theme to this sort of attack, there have been cases where people (most often women) have been stabbed by sharp objects by an unknown assailant. The attacks are usually focused on the buttock and thigh area. I think such an attacker is known as a 'picqeur'.
 
Threads merged (as we might have suspected real cases as well as ULs).

----------------

A Shopping Trip To A Tulsa Store Turns Into A Scary Experience For One Woman



A holiday shopper got more than she bargained for after making a bizarre find in a Tulsa department store. Donna Litwack was stuck with a syringe while checking out some pants at JC Penney. Now she fears the worst may be yet to come.

News on 6 anchor Tami Marler has this caution for unsuspecting holiday shoppers.

Donna Litwack started early one Saturday morning, hoping to avoid the holiday rush as she searched JC Penney for the perfect pair of jogging pants for her daughter. "And I was trying to search for the pockets to see how big the pockets were because she likes to carry her keys and I was stabbed by something sharp. And at first I thought it was a staple, but I realized it was sharper than that."

In both pockets, she found syringes with needles, which appeared to be used. "There was some substance inside of it, yes there was. At first I thought what is happening here? I couldn't believe it was happening, but then I realized I was just stabbed with a needle."

Tulsa Police confirmed they responded to an incident at

------------

the Tulsa Promenade's JC Penney on December 11th. Donna Litwack says she couldn't believe what was happening. "It was Saturday of course, so I took myself to the emergency room and was treated by the emergency room doctor. He was concerned about not only what was in the syringe, but what was in the needle. Communicable diseases; hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV."

Now, on top of the usual holiday stress, Litwack has to wait and worry for weeks, to learn whether she's been infected with any communicable diseases. She was just trying to find Christmas gifts for her loved ones, now she's dealing with a nightmare that she hopes other holiday shoppers will know to avoid. "If anyone could avoid what I've been through this last week, then it would be well worth it. As my family doctor told me these are life-threatening diseases that I could be exposed to, and I will have to go through at least a year of continued blood tests and other procedures."

Donna Litwack was "not" allowed to take the syringes for testing, so she's forced to undergo months of blood work, each test

---------------
taking weeks to process.

Litwack knows this was a "freak" occurrence, but she hopes her story will make other shoppers "think twice" as they try-out store merchandise.

Source
 
Grim:

April 30, 2005

HIV fears as girl of 8 attacks classmates

By A Correspondent

AN EIGHT-YEAR-OLD girl pricked 19 classmates with her mother’s diabetes blood-testing needle, and one of them tested positive for HIV in a preliminary test, health officials said.

The officials added that the virus could not have been contracted from the needle, adding that preliminary tests can yield false positives.

The risk to students who were pricked after the possibly infected child depended on factors including how deep the needle went, they said.

The girl used the needle at breakfast, at lunch and in the classroom at Taylor Elementary School in Philadelphia on Wednesday.

It was about a centimetre long and stuck on the end of what looked like a pen, according to school officials. They were unable to say why the pupil did it.

She was suspended, Paul Vallas, the school district’s chief executive, said.

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says that the risk of HIV infection after a needle prick is low, with an average of 1 in 300 cases leading to infection. (AP)

Source
 
If I ever decide to read through this thread again somebody slap me.
 
This is my first post, so go easy on me. :)

I've heard a few of the ULs mentioned before in varying degrees, but I would be inclined to be sceptical of the syringe-filled-with-heroin story particularly.

Let's face it, this is not in the best interests of either types of people who would come into contact with heroin; the dealer and the user. Users would be more likely to keep the stuff for themselves given that the majority struggle to finance their addiction.

Also, I can see no reason why giving a "free sample" would benefit a heroin dealer in terms of creating a new customer either. I believe rather than thinking to themselves "I must get some heroin" and running to the nearest dealer, the victim would be more likely to feel ill for a couple of days and would be more concerned about possible HIV/hepatitis etc. infection.

Having said that, as a father of a young son, I must admit that it worries me the levels that some people will stoop to when it comes to harming children (if it happens, of course).

On a related note, I seem to remember around the late '80s early '90s a UL regarding people using chewing gum to stick razor blades to the insides of water slides at the commonwealth pool in Edinburgh.
There was no FOAF element involved, because noone had ever been hurt (to my knowledge) in this way, does anyone know anything more about this one?
 
Some ULs never go away, do they?

I was sitting watching the news last night - terrible story about the Pakistan earthquake - and a propos nothing in particular, my fiancee said to me:

"Have you heard what people are doing now? Putting HIV-infected needles in cinema seats with notes saying "welcome to the AIDS club". It's happened at the Sutton Coldfield Odeon [our local cinema] and lots of others in Birmingham"

I replied that it sounded like a repeat of an old scare story, and that as far as I knew, the police had never found any truth in the tales. But no, my intended is quite adamant that this is happening here & now. The "proof"? BUPA (for whom she works) have sent a memo round the local hospitals citing it as fact.

Now, I have no doubt that the memo exists, but I'm a cynical old bugger at heart, having heard (and enjoyed, let's face it) most of the ULs doing the rounds over the years, so I refuse to believe in infected needles in my local cinema. So please help me out here, one way or another: has there ever been a documented case of infection or even attempted infection by this method in the UK or elsewhere? And I'm afraid that scaremongering memos in private hospitals or badly typed viral e-mails don't count.

There - I said I was cynical - but I feel angry on behalf of people like my fiancee: she is not gullible, but does take things at face value most of the time, and so now thinks that some idiot is planting needles in our local cinema. There, I've finished my little rant, and if anyone is kind enough to reply, I promise to show the friendly side of my character in future!
 
Taht has apparently been happening on the foldy seats in cinemas, in telford, near where I live. :(
 
Someone sent me another version of this old yarn recently, not knowing that it's a reworked hoax:

Friends,
This message is serious and has been passed to us from Cheshire RFU.
Could you please cascade as quickly as possible as this came through our
NHS web page.
For your information, a couple of weeks ago, in the odeon cinema,
Festival Park, a person sat on something sharp in one of the seats. When
she stood up to see what it was, a needle was found poking through the
seat with an attached note saying, "you have been infected with HIV".
The Centres for Disease Control in Birmingham, reports similar events
have taken place in several other cities recently.
ALL of the needles tested HAVE been found positive for HIV. The CDC also
reports that needles have been found in the coin return areas of pay
phones and coke machines. Everyone is asked to use extreme caution when
confronted with these types of situations. All public chairs should be
thoroughly but safely inspected prior to any use. A thorough visual
inspection is considered the bare minimum. Further more, they ask that
everyone notify their family members and friends of the potential
dangers, as well.
The previous information was sent from hanley police station to all of
the local councils in the Staffs area and was interdepartmentally
dispersed.
We were all asked to pass this to as many people as possible."
 
This one was just sent 'round my place of work in Bristol. (The exact same email, citing festival park odeon). I'd have said something, but emails like these just makes me tired. (plus I like my boss and didn't want to seem as if I was being picky at him).
 
Thanks for those last two! My point exactly: we've all seen or heard this story, but where's the proof it actually happened? The fact that all these memos seem to tell exactly the same stories convince me that it's all at best somebody's idea of a joke and at worst quite malicious.

I've got half a mind to go to the local Odeon, and plonk myself heavily down on as many seats as possible, just to prove a point. The other half of my mind, fortunately, tells me not to be so silly!

But back to my argument: if this needle thing actually occurred, it would be in the national news, the police would take it seriously and memos containing dire warnings would surely not all be written in exactly the same form all over the country whilst claiming that the threat was specific to your area, right now.

Another rant over, I'm off to start a thread about David Beckham. See you there!
 
I got the "needles in seats" email today at work. The people from personnel dept sent it to everyone in the company without checking it and then had to send out a "sorry bu virust it's a hoax" email. :roll: Are people aware the HIV only survies for about 20mins outside the body, and is really quite hard to catch.
 
The above 'Birmingham cinema seat' email was sent to people where I work as well, in Leeds.

It's interesting how these things come in waves and spread like wildfire. Are people really this gullible? Or do normal people hit the 'forward' button without reading the contents? I wish I knew.
 
Fenzil said:
Are people aware the HIV only survies for about 20mins outside the body, and is really quite hard to catch.

That's a very good point, it's actually the Hepatatis C virus that can survive for much longer than HIV.

A few more needle ULs:

(I think like some ULs, these might have a basis in fact rather than fiction but has definitely been elaborated on and the truth is hard to dig out) told to me a number of years ago by a firefighter and a social worker respectively (from interestingly enough, different parts of the country) who reckoned that they'd been told this by Health & Safety reps and in one case it was like the God's honest truth... honest :roll: Going from memory:

  • infected hypodermic needles can be pushed into and hidden in highrise lift buttons (around it rather than in it), so when an emergency service arrives on either a hoax callout or arson, they press the button and get a needle stick for their trouble
    (therefore never press a lift button with your finger, use a biro or something else)

    infected needles can be or have been attached to the underneath of stair rails/bannisters so that when you walk up a flight of stairs do not hold the bannister

I'd be interested to know what event or incident (indeed even if there was one) that sparked off the above advice.
 
So basically just don't touch, sit on, or look at anything ever.
 
That's excellent advice.

I'd like to see the government take notice of REAL EVENTS and issue immediate warnings to this effect. And make it punishable by deportation.
 
Yeah this UL is currently doing the Rounds in Oxford too....

Leading to a rather remarkable telephone conversation yesterday. Talking to a workmate I happened to mention that me and the a few others were going to see the new Wallace & Gromit film. To be told No dont go the Cinema!! were upon the above UL was described to me, wich they had received in an e-mail the week before.

Trying to point out that it sounds very much like and urban myth fell on deaf ears, Me: [/i]So you arent going to go to the Cinema any more? Mate: No, not until they've caught whose responsible!...

Aahh so you are making a change of lifestyle based on a dubious story in an email from afoaf. :shock: the true consequences of a good UL in full effect!

Mr P
 
aussiehippy said:
That's excellent advice.

I'd like to see the government take notice of REAL EVENTS and issue immediate warnings to this effect. And make it punishable by deportation.

:rofl:

I remember a similar tale made it round our way when I was a kid, except this UL contained slightly more detail about where the needles originated from. IIRC it even made it into our local rag. The story was that a van exclusively carrying HIV infected blood samples (pretty likely in itself of course) had been broken into and much of the infected blood stolen along with the obligatory hypodermic needles. Apparently the people responsible for the theft were leaving the infected needles in the coat pockets of folk queuing outside a particular local nightclub, although no explanation was offered as to why it should be so specific a target. I can only imagine that it was some sort of a campaign to get the clubber girls to leave their coats at home and parade their flesh in public!
 
A week or so ago, I was forwarded an email (from someone who really should know better) -

For your information, a couple of weeks ago, in the Odeon cinema,
Festival Park, a person sat on something sharp in one of the seats.
When she stood up to see what it was, a needle was found poking through
the seat with an attached note saying, "you have been infected with HIV".
The Centres for Disease Control in Birmingham, reports similar events
Have taken place in several other cities recently.

I'm London based - but then with email that doesn't mean as much anymore.

What interested me was the provenence at the foot of the message:

Regards
[name deleted for privacy]
Gatekeeper
Employer Direct Exeter
01392 xxxxxx

So it seems to have come from Exeter, referring to a Brummy cinema. Hmmm.
 
I promised myself I wouldn't add any more to this thread than I already have, because the idea of a (presumed) hoax like this makes me quite angry towards the originators, but here's a more lighthearted take on things:
Perhaps this story was started by makers of DVDs. That is to say, don't go to the cinema, you might get AIDS, get a DVD instead, they're harmless!
I'm joking, of course. I hope...
 
AH! But a friend of my great aunt Fanny's sister told me about this one girl who rented a DVD, and when she got it out the box she suddenly went mad and cooked her baby in a microwave!
It turns out the disc had been coated in LSD! And there was a message inside that said 'Now you know what it's like to get mashed, love Blockbusters'

:twisted:
 
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