Medicine might be one more step closer alleviating the danger of spreading infections through used syringes. A major pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline, has launched a new disposable syringe that will get automatically locked once it has been used.
The new product, known as Auto-Disable (A-D) syringe, has been developed by a New York based pharmaceutical company UNIVEC Farmingdale, and is being distributed in India by the GSK. The design of the syringe is such that once the plunger is fully pressed after administering one dose, it becomes jammed in that position making it difficult to be used again.
Using disposable syringes is standard procedure in most countries. However, in some developing countries they may still be used for the second time leading to the risk of transmitting infections like HIV, hepatitis B etc. According to recent WHO figures, diseases transmitted through infected syringes cause almost 1.3 million deaths annually. This number could be largely reduced if the new syringes are made mandatory for use in routine prophylactic as well as mass immunisation programmes.
As of now, the syringes will be supplied with all vials of GSK's liquid vaccines for children, in the "developing countries and emerging markets".
PTI