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Comment by fouc | Hacker News Reader

>Health officials now say that Mr. Ghanghro is unlikely to be the sole cause of the outbreak. Visiting health workers saw many cases of doctors reusing syringes and I.V. needles. Barbers take the same razor to the faces of multiple customers, they said, and roadside dentists crack away at patients’ teeth on sidewalks with unsterilized tools.

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The paragraph before was far more perplexing to me.

> The doctor recently renewed his medical certificate and now works as a general practitioner at a government hospital on the outskirts of Ratodero, despite laws that make the reuse of syringes an offense that is not eligible for bail.

So he was arrested for it, then while still not convicted, got a new certificate and is back at it?

Unfortunately, he was probably able to bribe the local police/magistrate to grant him bail.

he should have used that bribe money to buy syringes. They aren't expensive.

Even here in Melbourne the barber offers to use a cutthroat razor to give the neck a clean shave after a haircut.

He's always a little puzzled when I'm "no thanks" to the razor.

Genuine question, if the razor is soaked in barbosol(?) between uses, is it not thoroughly disinfected. Aren't most medical tools metal? If a barber used an autoclave, would it be acceptable then?

>> If a barber used an autoclave, would it be acceptable then

If I trusted that the autoclave was properly used, of course. Same as the dentist.

Woah, I never thought about this possibility.

I can't speak for their situation but the standard here is that when a barber holds up something that looks like a cut throat razor, it's a "shavette", which actually takes a disposable blade.

Same here, and I live in a poor country. First he sticks the metal tool into some liquid, to sterilize it, then opens new disposable blade in front of you and installs it to machine.

Even if you don't get HIV from the razor you could still get one of the forms of hepatitis.

I've never seen a barber with an autoclave for cleaning his equipment.

Don't they usually have disposable blades? The barbers in Melb I go to do.

Barbicide kills HIV and hepatitis.

Jesus. These are the medical standards of the early 19th century. On net, it's probably better than nothing at all, but there is so much further to go.

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