AT LEAST 150 years have passed since an Edinburgh doctor called Alexander Wood and the French surgeon Charles Gabriel Pravaz independently hit on the idea of using hollow, pointed needles to inject medicines. Over that time the hypodermic syringe has become both saint and sinner, symbolising life-saving vaccinations on the one hand and the miseries of intravenous drug addiction on the other. But the latest charge against the hypodermic syringe marks a new low. Is it really to blame for Africa’s AIDS pandemic?
The moment last week’s explosive study was published, critics queued up to pour cold water on its…
