Teen stabbed by needle

A TEENAGE girl celebrating her 16th birthday has been stabbed with a needle on a Darwin beach.

Jamie Duke was with friends at Nightcliff beach on Thursday when she stepped on a 25 gauge needle, stabbing her toe.

The needle - which was not attached to a syringe - was on the beach near Sunset Park on Casuarina Drive.

Her mother Alison Duke wants to warn others to keep an eye out for needles.

"The needle stuck in enough to make her toe bleed," she said.

"And she has tough feet because she is a bare feet girl."

Ms Duke said she washed Jamie's foot with alcohol and called Royal Darwin Hospital for advice.

"They said just to wash the area and take her for blood tests," she said.

"And she has to get her bloods tested again in a couple of months, and a course of antibiotics against Hepatitis B.

"It makes me really angry."

Ms Duke said she walked on the beach every morning and had never seen a needle before.

"I had become complacent about things like needles," she said.

"There are so many places for drug users to dispose of needles these days I didn't think they would still be found on beaches."

Ms Duke said Jamie was being brave about what happened.

I have gone through it all with her. We are being positive," she said.

And she pleaded with people who used needles to dispose of them carefully.

Needle disposal bins are available at the NT AIDS and Hepatitis Council offices at 46 Woods St, Darwin, and the Palmerston Health Precinct.

For more information call 1800 880 889.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Sat, 11 Aug 2007
Source: Northern Territory News (Australia)
Reporter: Kasey Brunt
Contact: ntnmail@ntn.newsltd.com.au
Website: http://www.ntnews.com.au