A simple 'one water, one bleach, one water' cleaning technique based on the science explained in the youtube 'does cleaning syringes work?' and 'hep C survival in syringes'.
@Diedrich92 ...the needle will become blunt if you use it multiple times, and this will cause more tissue and vein damage, so you should always use a new sterile needle if you can.
@kingblackhart The first time you put the needle/syringe in the water you contaminate it with blood, so if you put the syringe that has been cleaned with bleach back into the contaminated water you could re-infect it.
@LedZeppelinx88 It won't! - you rinse it ALL out, and it's gone. There's no risk from the bleach. There's a BIG risk from hepatitis C virus! Cleaning syringes is a lifesaver.
@AliksanderPersia with an insulin type syringe, with an attached needle, thick bleach is usually too difficult to draw through the needle, the plunger doesn't draw back, and if it does it just pulls through bubbles. Thin bleach is best.
yes, the science has been done (without the risk of testing on humans!) search youtube for "Does cleaning syringes work?" on the exchangesupplies channel, and it'll tell you all you need to know.
@AliksanderPersia rinsing with cold water, followed by total immersion of all surfaces in bleach would kill viruses. But thick bleach is viscous stuff, so getting it through the bore of the needle would be hard. Google 'chlorine tablets syringes' for an alternative we sell that is easier to carry than bottles of thin bleach.
it often happens that a small friendship group who think they're all hep C free share syringes BUT it only takes one of them to ever share with someone outside the group, and become infected (depending on where you are 40%-90% of injectors have hep C, even if they don't know it!) once infected, they then pass the virus to the whole group.
There is no risk of injecting bleach using this process - the rinsing dilutes it, and effectively removes it all.
While the bleach is in the syringe it has a powerful anti-viral action.
ANY rinsing is MUCH better than no rinsing, because each rinse greatly dilutes the blood in the syringe, and then ejects it.
...but it is better to use cold water than hot, because hot water can cause the blood to clot and stick to the syringe, and not get flushed out.
hope that helps.
Hi,
You are right: you can only catch hcv from an infected person. If a group is 'clean' (i.e. HCV free) that can only change if one of them shares outside the group with someone who is infected.
This can happen easily, and obviously can infect the group quickly without anyone knowing at the time.
@ExchangeSupplies Can hepatitis be contracted from uninfected blood? Ive heard it can be contracted from mixing blood? Can you get from only injecting your own blood
@CrunkinLiLy if you clean the needle and syringe in the way shown, and make sure the whole of the outside of the needle is dipped in the bleach (and the bleach is in date, and has been stored correctly) then you will kill ALL of the HIV and hepatitis C. Better to use a clean one, of course, but if you can't then finding some bleach could save your life.
![exchangesupplies.org](data:image/svg+xml,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="48" height="48"><rect fill-opacity="0"/></svg>){kind=small}
