
Low versus high dead space syringes: user preferences and attitudes - DanBC
https://clahrc-west.nihr.ac.uk/research/projects/low-versus-high-dead-space-syringes-user-preferences-and-attitudes/
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mc32
While the risk of infection isn’t binary depending on whether there is
infected blood or not, they mention transmission is lessened by the diminished
amount of blood left in the syringe-needle system but don’t cite and don’t say
by how much. I’d be curious how much that reduction is.

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Obi_Juan_Kenobi
Large CI, but a convincingly high odds-ratio that 'high deadspace' syringes
increase transmission:
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2654245/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2654245/)

Lab testing shows less transmission with less deadspace (up to a point: thick
gauge needles were all detectable):
[https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/aid.2016.0023](https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/aid.2016.0023)

This sounds quite substantial (33% vs. 1.4%), but there's room for
confounders:
[http://www.injectingadvice.com/v4/index.php/articles/equipme...](http://www.injectingadvice.com/v4/index.php/articles/equipment/157-how-
syringe-type-effects-hiv-risk)

Overall it seems quite effective.

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ars
Wouldn't they anyway like the low dead space syringes more because it wastes
less of whatever they are injecting?

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duskwuff
They certainly do! This is mentioned in the article:

> “Less waste is obvious isn’t it, no-one wants to waste anything in life, but
> drugs, since it is our obsession, it’s the most important thing.”

