Police in Sobradinho, Brazil are investigating a women who taped HIV infected syringes, needle tips exposed, along the top rail of a fence that surrounds her condo in order to protect her home from robbers. The woman, who is a doctor at a nearby hospital, said she placed the needles on the fence after being robbed multiple times. The woman told authorities that she obtained the needles from a laboratory at her place of employment and that they indeed were tainted with blood containing the HIV virus.
Police said there was nothing they could do about the dangerous needles because the fence was on private property and showed “no characterization of a crime”. Condo management however, has told the woman that she will be fined if the needles are not removed. Police are still trying to determine how the woman obtained the large quantity of contaminated needles and if a crime had been committed to obtain them.
The woman placed this sign on the fence warning outsiders that the needles placed atop the fence contained HIV contaminated blood.
Here are additional pictures of the needles.
Medical authorities are unsure whether the needles could indeed infect someone with the AIDS virus but do believe that other contaminates would be dangerous and suggest that the needles be disposed in appropriate protective containers.
