E-mail circulates HIV needles hoax

By ANITA KUMAR

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 4, 2000

If you've gotten an e-mail recently warning you about hypodermic needles with HIV-positive blood being attached to gas pump handles, you're not alone.

They're turning up everywhere.

The e-mail from Capt. Abraham Sands of the Jacksonville Police Department began circulating three weeks ago and has spread across the United States and Canada one e-mail at a time.

But there's just one catch: It's a hoax.

There is no Sands. No Jacksonville Police Department. And, most important, no needles.

But that hasn't stopped 1,300 concerned drivers from calling and e-mailing the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, which polices the city and Duval County. Another 1,000 mistakenly called others, such as the Jacksonville Beach police and the Jacksonville Police and Fire Pension Fund.

So many people have e-mailed the Sheriff's Office that officials there have set up an automatic reply to say it's a hoax.

John Turner, public information officer for the Sheriff's Office, said most people who contact the police are worried for their safety.

The e-mail reports 17 cases of people in the Jacksonville area being stuck by needles in the past five months and at least 12 others around the nation. Eight of those people have tested positive for HIV, the e-mail says.

"I have been asked by state and local authorities to write this e-mail in order to get the word out to car drivers of a very dangerous prank that is occurring in numerous states," Sands says in the e-mail.

Not true.

Two Web sites devoted to urban legends also are trying to alleviate fears about the needles.

One of them, http://www.urbanlegends.com, says urban legends are spread by people who want to warn, amuse, or tell a good story, but they sometimes end up causing problems.

The needle urban legend isn't a new one.

It's a variation of a story about infected needles planted in theater seats and pay phone coin return slots.

All of the infected-needle stories are false, except that a few needles were found in the coin slots of public phones and in bank night deposit slots in Virginia in 1999, according to http://www.urbanlegends.about.com. That was well after the e-mails had circulated for months.

So what should you do if you receive one of these e-mails?

Turner recommends replying to the e-mail and telling whomever sent you the original that it's a hoax.

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