A student has been allegedly injected with a syringe while standing on a queue in front of a bar. After the worrisome night, she tested herself to find out whether she was contracted to HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B. The incident occurred on October 19 on Fleet Street in Liverpool where the 18-year-old student was standing on a queue in front of Baa Bar.
The woman who would like to stay anonymous is a first year student at University of Liverpool. She stepped out of the queue after feeling sick and started vomiting which later became severe fatigue. She was then taken to her flat by her friend and she became well only by next morning.
But she felt something weird on her back and asked her friend to take a look. There was a red mark on her back apparently from an injection. After recalling last night’s events she suspected that she had been injected with contaminated fluid or blood by someone while standing in the particularly long queue. She was also wearing a back open type dress. According to her, she was crying over phone while talking to her mom on phone about the incident.
The student called her doctor that morning and was told to go straight to A&E. She has since been referred for blood tests at the Royal Liverpool Hospital including screening for hepatitis B, syphilis and HIV.
“It was so crowded [in the queue], we were talking to everyone – people in front and behind. I must have been injected. There’s no way I would have acted like that unless I was spiked.” the woman said.
The police have started investigation and are collecting CCTV footages from the area.
A Merseyside Police spokesperson said: “We are investigating after an 18 year-old woman reported she was injected in the back in Liverpool city centre.”
“An investigation is underway and CCTV, witness and medical enquiries are in the process of being carried out.”
“Anyone with information is asked to DM @MerPolCC or @CrimestoppersUK on 0800 555 111 quoting reference 21000731288.”
A Baa Bar spokesperson said: “We are taking the increased threat of spikings and people being injected across the city incredibly seriously.”
“Baa Bar was one of the first bars to adapt a no search no entry policy to give our guests reassurance and this has been received extremely positively.”
Following the incident, fear arises about incidents like this can also happen in Ireland. Irish nightclubs and bars are fully reopen since last week and there are long queues and crowd in front of them after months of closure.
- If you suspect you have been spiked do follow these steps:
- Immediately talk to someone you trust as the spike can cause serious health issues like vomiting, drowsiness, head spin, head ache etc.
- Get help from medical professional.
- Contact bar/store manager and talk about the issue.
- Contact Gardai.
- You can make sure if you have been spiked from blood and urine tests.
- If you suspect the spike happened through drink, keep the drink as an evidence material.
Even if you test positive for HIV after a similar incident, there are treatments available to stop the virus from affecting your body. The health care provider will give you an HIV test and decide whether you should take an emergency medicine called PEP, or post-exposure prophylaxis.
In people who are HIV-negative, PEP prevents the virus from causing infection and spreading. But you must start PEP within 72 hours (3 days) of when you’re exposed to the virus for it to work. And you’ll need to keep taking the medicine for 28 days.
PEP works very well at preventing HIV infection, but it’s not 100% effective.
Report by: Liverpool ECHO, Irish Mirror