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Kids Stuck by Needle Take Anti-HIV Drugs


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Kids Stuck by Needle Take Anti-HIV Drugs

By Associated Press

April 30, 2005, 6:47 PM EDT

PHILADELPHIA -- Nineteen elementary schoolchildren who were pricked with a needle by another student are taking strong drugs to fight HIV after one of the children tested positive for the virus, officials said.

Although authorities said the odds of the other children getting HIV from the needle were extremely low, the drugs would reduce the amount of the virus in the blood or slow the progress of the disease. The drugs do not cure HIV or prevent its transmission.

"It may be in there, but it never gets a chance to set up cells in your body," said Roger Pomerantz, head of the infectious-disease division at Jefferson Medical College.

The 8-year-old girl who stuck her Taylor Elementary schoolmates Wednesday was suspended and will probably be moved to another school, officials said. They were unsure why she pricked the other students with her mother's diabetes testing needle.

Authorities have ruled out the possibility that the child who tested positive for the virus, which causes AIDS, could have been infected by the needle prick.

Copyright 2005 Newsday Inc.

www.newsday.com

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