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More Needles Wash Up On West Oahu Beach

Officials Issue Health Advisory For Area

POSTED: 4:29 pm HST March 12, 2008
UPDATED: 9:54 am HST March 13, 2008

Medical needles have washed up on shore at the West Oahu beach known as Hau Bush for a week, including at least one more on Wednesday.

The state Department of Health put out an advisory on Wednesday, a week after the needles began turning up along the shore.

Kerrie Prowse first spotted a couple of dozen syringes on the beach last week. She is worried many beachgoers are not aware of the potential hazard.

"My main concern is that people watch their step. I want people to know what's out here still," she said.

Prowse is worried the needles could be buried anywhere under the sand.

"We watched it come in Wednesday. It could be anywhere on this side of the coast," she said.

One needle was found on Wednesday morning. Surfers KITV spoke with were not aware of the problem.

"I think they should have had signs here, might have thought twice about going out," Waipio resident Lorraine Beham said. "It concerns me, I use to work in a hospital, I know all about hepatitis and all the infections that could pose."

State health officials said that at this point they do not know the source of the medical waste.

"The manufacturer has been identified, the local distributor has been talked to. They are a fairly thin needle used for taking blood from people with small veins," Deputy Health Director Larry Lau said.

Lau said the needles appear to be new.

"Based on the information we have so far, we think these are unused needles because a lot of them have the caps on them," Lau said.

The needles are common so officials said it may be difficult to track it down where they came.

Prowse called 911 to report the new find on Wednesday while she had hoped officials would post warning signs. There are apparently no protocols for alerting the public about medical waste hazards.

The Health Department advised that if a needle should stick anyone, to clean the wound with an antibiotic and cover it with a clean bandage. Officials said you might also want to check with your doctor if it should happen.

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