GOSHEN, Ind. — An 11-year-old girl from Goshen says she was stabbed by a syringe while washing her hands at a city park.
Mercedes Bailey and her family visited Walnut Park on Sunday afternoon.
Bailey told ABC 57 in South Bend that she went into the restroom to wash her hands afer playing. When she went to get some soap, her hand was jabbed by a needle that someone had hidden inside the soap dispenser.
Bailey’s mother, Lori Deboard, says the syringe had been placed needle-down so that when someone pressed on the dispenser, they would get jabbed.
The soap dispenser has been removed.
Although it’s unlikely Mercedes contracted HIV or hepatitis C from the needle, she will still need to take an antiretroviral drug for the next six months. ART helps reduce the risk of getting HIV, says the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
(Photo by HughStoneIan/iStock/Getty Images.)
