title: Syringe disposal among injection drug users in San Francisco.
abstract: To assess the prevalence of improperly discarded syringes and to examine syringe disposal practices of injection drug users (IDUs) in San Francisco, we visually inspected 1000 random city blocks and conducted a survey of 602 IDUs. We found 20 syringes on the streets we inspected. IDUs reported disposing of 13% of syringes improperly. In multivariate analysis, obtaining syringes from syringe exchange programs was found to be protective against improper disposal, and injecting in public places was predictive of improper disposal. Few syringes posed a public health threat.
authors.affiliation: RTI International, San Francisco, CA 94104, USA. lynndee@rti.org
authors.forename: Lynn D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Wenger
authors.forename: Alexis N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Martinez
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Carpenter
authors.forename: Dara
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Geckeler
authors.forename: Grant
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Colfax
authors.forename: Alex H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Kral
mesh_terms: D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D006801:Humans; D017744:Medical Waste Disposal / Q000379:methods*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016602:Needlestick Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology; D012495:San Francisco / Q000453:epidemiology; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013594:Syringes
chemical_list: D017744:Medical Waste Disposal
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