December 1 was World AIDS Day, a day to raise awareness on the scourge of HIV/AIDS in our community and to remember our fallen loved ones.

In the Raleigh-Durham area, thousands remain affected by the disease. In Durham County, 1,399 people are living with HIV/AIDS. In neighboring Wake County, that number nearly doubles to 2,528.

But we needn’t continue to mourn. HIV/AIDS can be stopped, and stopping it should be a public health imperative, especially in North Carolina, one of the top 10 states with new HIV/AIDS diagnoses and deaths in the country. We know condoms can help prevent HIV transmission. We know that anti-retroviral treatment reduces the spread of the disease. Furthermore, a growing body of evidence coming out of RTI International, based here in the Triangle, suggests that we can drastically reduce HIV transmission simply by changing the syringes that people use to inject drugs.

Those of us who aren’t diabetic or don’t use needles on a regular basis might not put much thought into different syringe models. Why should even we care? We should care because 19 percent of HIV infections in our state were transmitted through shared syringes. North Carolina taxpayers shoulder the cost of treating uninsured residents with HIV, so we’re looking at billions of dollars saved if we reduce the number of people infected.

A 2009 RTI study focused on HIV and Hepatitis C transmission rates among injection drug users in Raleigh-Durham, especially those who share needles. Researchers looked at two types of injection equipment: low dead-space syringes and high dead-space syringes. Simply put, a low dead-space syringe, which includes most diabetic syringes, have little to no empty space between the base of the needle and the plunger; a high dead-space syringe has about 100 mircoliters of empty, or “dead” space between the needle and the plunger, and can retain up to 1,000 times more blood after rinsing than a low dead-space syringe.

Why is this important?

Because models show that if we replace one syringe type with the other, the incidence of HIV and hepatitis C transmission plunges among people who share syringes. In addition to increasing risk of HIV and Hepatitis C transmission if they are shared, high dead-space needles and syringes also waste medication and reduce the accuracy of dosages. There are a number of alternative needle and syringe designs that reduce or eliminate dead space, and several major syringe manufacturers have patented these designs. However, there is no real financial incentive for them to phase out the production of standard needles and syringes and replace them with low dead-space alternatives.

Let’s create that incentive. If we are serious about tackling the problems of HIV and hepatitis in our communities, we should be pressuring pharmacies, hospitals and syringe manufacturers to adopt a solution to the disease that is simple, scientific and cost effective. Also, we should be educating pharmacists, health care workers and HIV counselors about the benefits of switching to low dead-space needles and syringes. We should make the switch to low dead-space syringes.

This could reduce medication waste, lead to more accurate dosing and reduce HIV and HCV transmission. Here in North Carolina, it costs about $680,000 in public funds to treat an uninsured person living with HIV and $500,000 to pay for a liver transplant for someone with Hepatitis C. However, there is no significant price difference between low and high dead-space syringes.

RTI’s continued study of the types of syringes used in European and Asian countries with high rates of HIV and Hepatitis C supports the theory that replacing syringes makes good health sense and the international science community appears to be taking note. Just this year, the World Health Organization added a recommendation to its Viral Hepatitis prevention guidelines for needle and syringe programs to offer low dead space syringes.

In honor of World AIDS Day, spread the word. Let’s kill this epidemic before it kills us.

Monica Curry is a public health education specialist with the Durham County department of Public Health. The Partnership for a Healthy Durham is a community coalition that works closely with the health department to address the greatest health needs in the county. For more information, visit http://www.healthydurham.org or call 919-560-7833.