A Dundee family face an agonising six-month wait after their young son was pricked by a used needle on a bus.

The six-year-old boy was injured following an incident aboard the bus last Monday.

He was taken to Ninewells Hospital where medical staff took blood and gave him a booster injection. And now the family must wait six months to find out if their child has been infected with a virus like hepatitis or HIV.

Interestingly, that booster injection is described as a tetanus booster in this report. However, in this circumstance, a tetanus booster would be as much use as a chocolate teapot. In the circumstances, I would be equally concerned to know what more sensible interventions and precautionary or forward-looking plans have been put into place in case something more appropriate had been overlooked.

The child’s father said: “When they got on the bus he asked if he could go up stairs. The next thing he came down looking chalk white and said to his mum: ‘I’ve been stabbed’.

“She asked him what had stabbed him and he said one of those dirty needles. He said it had browny red stuff in it.

Good luck to the little lad, and to his family.

see http://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/news/local/dad-speaks-of-horror-after-boy-jagged-by-needle-on-dundee-bus-1.142110

and http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-24533028