Ottawa children on HIV drugs after dirty needle prick

Two eight-year-old Ottawa girls must take drugs used to fight HIVafter being pricked with a dirty needle.

Elizabeth Karabegovic and Jasmine Welsh were playing on the sidewalk in the city's west end two weeks ago when they found a syringe, said Elizabeth's mother, Eldina Bojo.

The children have since been tested forHIV but will have to wait a long time and take further tests to get reliable results, Bojo added.

The tests detect antibodies to HIV, but it can take up to six months for the antibodies to develop.

The children are also at risk of being infected with Hepatitis C.

"Because of that we need to go through a year of prayer and hoping that this is going to turn out right, that the kids won't turn out sick," Bojo said.

In the meantime, they must takeantiretroviraldrugs, which are believed to reduce the chance of being infected with HIV afterexposure.

The girls found the syringe across the street from the Ottawa Community Housing building, where Bojo lives.

They thought it was a pen, so they picked it up and tried to write their names on their hands in order to test it out, pricking themselves in the process.

Then Elizabeth took the syringe home.

"When I saw it I was out of it, I was devastated," said Bojo, who quickly called Jasmine's mother.

She said the city used to clean up garbage and needles on the street, but stopped a few months ago.

City officials said they do pick up needles if they receive a complaint.

But David Salisbury, the city's chief medical officer of health, said it's also up to parents to warn their kids not to play with shiny objects.

"We live in an urban environment. These kinds of things are going to be around," he said. "And we need to educate our children that they're not play toys."

The city said it will soon send out a notice to homes in Bojo's neighbourhood soother parents can warn their children as well.