Pin prick attack
Encyclopedia
A pin prick attack is a hypothetical assault on another person with a needle
or syringe
tainted with the blood of somebody carrying a Blood-borne disease
, such as HIV
. Although there have been numerous cases of people being attacked with needles and syringes, the idea that people infected with AIDS have deliberately attempted to infect others in this manner is generally considered an urban legend
. There is to date, only one documented case of a pin prick attack leading directly to the transmission of HIV
.
had been around since the 1930s
the legend probably has its roots in a 1989 incident where ten teenage girls were arrested and later charged with stabbing numerous women with pins in the Upper West Side
area of New York
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/04/nyregion/10-teen-age-girls-held-in-upper-broadway-pinprick-attacks.html. Coming near the height of the 1980s HIV scares this led to a great deal of panic amongst the local community although health officials were keen to stress that the chances of anybody contracting the virus in this way were practically zero and nobody affected in the attacks subsequently tested positive for HIV.
or a night club when they felt a slight prick on their arm. Not taking any notice they would carry on with their leisure activity and it was only later that they would find stuck to their clothes or in their pocket a badge or sticker carrying the slogan 'welcome to the AIDS club' followed a few months later with a positive HIV test http://tafkac.org/ulz/needles.html. These rumours bear similarities to the so called AIDS Mary legends of the 1980s whereby a man would enjoy a one night stand with a stranger at his house and awaken the next morning to find the stranger gone and the words 'Welcome to the AIDS Club' written in red lipstick on his bathroom mirror http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=print_topic;f=91;t=000711. However the American Center for Disease Control has stressed on numerous occasions that it has yet to confirm a single case of HIV as being transmitted in this fashion http://web.archive.org/web/20000621193159/http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pubs/faq/faq5a.htm and have dismissed such emails as a hoax
. The motive behind such emails appears to be little more than a scare story intended to frighten the recipient into staying away from leisure establishments by playing on the public fear of AIDS and the notion that an individual could be infected with a killer disease through no fault of their own.
on July 22, 1990, when prison officer Geoffrey Pearce was attacked by HIV-infected prisoner Graham Farlow, who stabbed him with a syringe full of his own infected blood. Despite immediate medical attention and the 'one in 200' chance of being infected, Pearce tested positive for the disease a few months later, and died of an AIDS related illness in 1997 at age 28.
Hypodermic needle
A hypodermic needle is a hollow needle commonly used with a syringe to inject substances into the body or extract fluids from it...
or syringe
Syringe
A syringe is a simple pump consisting of a plunger that fits tightly in a tube. The plunger can be pulled and pushed along inside a cylindrical tube , allowing the syringe to take in and expel a liquid or gas through an orifice at the open end of the tube...
tainted with the blood of somebody carrying a Blood-borne disease
Blood-borne disease
A blood-borne disease is one that can be spread through contamination by blood.The most common examples are HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and viral hemorrhagic fevers....
, such as HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
. Although there have been numerous cases of people being attacked with needles and syringes, the idea that people infected with AIDS have deliberately attempted to infect others in this manner is generally considered an urban legend
Urban legend
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
. There is to date, only one documented case of a pin prick attack leading directly to the transmission of HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
.
Origins
Although fanciful tales of so called 'needle men' or white slavers who supposedly injected unsuspecting young girls with morphine then carrying them away into a life of prostitutionProstitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
had been around since the 1930s
1930s
File:1930s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: Dorothea Lange's photo of the homeless Florence Thompson show the effects of the Great Depression; Due to the economic collapse, the farms become dry and the Dust Bowl spreads through America; The Battle of Wuhan during the Second Sino-Japanese...
the legend probably has its roots in a 1989 incident where ten teenage girls were arrested and later charged with stabbing numerous women with pins in the Upper West Side
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, that lies between Central Park and the Hudson River and between West 59th Street and West 125th Street...
area of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/04/nyregion/10-teen-age-girls-held-in-upper-broadway-pinprick-attacks.html. Coming near the height of the 1980s HIV scares this led to a great deal of panic amongst the local community although health officials were keen to stress that the chances of anybody contracting the virus in this way were practically zero and nobody affected in the attacks subsequently tested positive for HIV.
As an email/Internet scare story
The ascension of the internet in the 1990s led to the rise of numerous Urban Legends concerning the pin prick attack which could be quickly spread via email and discussion forums which soon assumed a standardised form. The email would take the form of a warning to others that a young person had been visiting a cinemaMovie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
or a night club when they felt a slight prick on their arm. Not taking any notice they would carry on with their leisure activity and it was only later that they would find stuck to their clothes or in their pocket a badge or sticker carrying the slogan 'welcome to the AIDS club' followed a few months later with a positive HIV test http://tafkac.org/ulz/needles.html. These rumours bear similarities to the so called AIDS Mary legends of the 1980s whereby a man would enjoy a one night stand with a stranger at his house and awaken the next morning to find the stranger gone and the words 'Welcome to the AIDS Club' written in red lipstick on his bathroom mirror http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=print_topic;f=91;t=000711. However the American Center for Disease Control has stressed on numerous occasions that it has yet to confirm a single case of HIV as being transmitted in this fashion http://web.archive.org/web/20000621193159/http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pubs/faq/faq5a.htm and have dismissed such emails as a hoax
Hoax
A hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to masquerade as truth. It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgment, or rumors, urban legends, pseudosciences or April Fools' Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.-Definition:The British...
. The motive behind such emails appears to be little more than a scare story intended to frighten the recipient into staying away from leisure establishments by playing on the public fear of AIDS and the notion that an individual could be infected with a killer disease through no fault of their own.
Sole example
The sole documented example of a pin prick attack leading to the deliberate transmission of HIV occurred at the Long Bay Jail in SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
on July 22, 1990, when prison officer Geoffrey Pearce was attacked by HIV-infected prisoner Graham Farlow, who stabbed him with a syringe full of his own infected blood. Despite immediate medical attention and the 'one in 200' chance of being infected, Pearce tested positive for the disease a few months later, and died of an AIDS related illness in 1997 at age 28.