An uncapped needle was found in a container of unused needles that had been removed from their packages, at Réseau ACCESS Network executive director, Heidi Eisenhauer, told Sudbury.com.
This is not standard practice, she said, and the incident is now under investigation to make sure it does not happen again.
Approximately 40 people have been affected by an infection prevention and control (IPAC) lapse, said the Réseau ACCESS Network on Jan. 26 release.
An infection prevention and control (IPAC) lapse occurs when there is deviation from IPAC best practices resulting in possible infectious disease.
Réseau ACCESS Network distributes harm reduction supplies to people who use drugs; the issue occurred at the agency’s Larch Street location.
Beginning in July, staff members had noticed an uptick in people asking for single needles. They began opening packages of multiple needles, which are not individually wrapped, but wrapped and sterilized as a whole.
They were stored in a labeled, clear plastic container for easier distribution of single syringes, Eisenhower said. But an uncapped syringe was found in the bin during regular clean up.
“That practice is not standard,” she said. “It seems that members of the team, after requests for single needles on an ongoing basis, had chosen to do this practice of handing out single needles. So definitely not best practice. Definitely not. It's a practice that we changed immediately.”
Though harm reduction supplies are given out on a confidential basis, direct support workers at Réseau ACCESS Network know their clients by code names. Since the discovery, the agency has doubled the number of outreach workers in order to find each person who may be affected.
That may be a little easier because most pick up their harm reduction supplies with multiple syringes, rather than single use, so there is a limited number.
The risk of potential exposure is limited to people who requested an individual needle from July until now. There is no risk to people who accessed full packages or other supplies.
So far, approximately half of the affected people have been contacted.
The issue was identified when a coordinator was organizing the harm reduction.
“As soon as they discovered that, we went into high alert, we looked at the whole system and alerted Public Health right away.”
Since the discovery, Réseau ACCESS Network halted the distribution of individual needles until sterile, pre-packaged individual needles are available and they will be working with Public Health Sudbury & District, as they conduct thorough investigation.
If you are concerned about an infection from this incident, or would like to have HIV or Hepatitis testing, contact Réseau ACCESS Network at (705) 688-0500 or Public Health Sudbury and Districts at (705) 522-9200.
Jenny Lamothe is a reporter with Sudbury.com. She covers the diverse communities of Sudbury, especially the vulnerable or marginalized, including the Black, Indigenous, newcomer and Francophone communities, as well as 2SLGBTQ+ and the downtown core.
