Another Reason to flee the UK.........................

I got a round-robin email at work today, I could not believe it........I was waiting for the punchline, unfortunatley there wasn't one. We took our kids to see Wallace & Gromit at the weekend , it was great fun at the time but after reading this it just makes me shiver.

[i:4fccd453dc]"From: Emma Sloan
Sent: 31 October 2005 10:01
To: Carlisle
Subject: Very Important Please Read

VERY IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ

Could you please cascade as quickly as possible as this came through our NHS web page.

For your information, a couple of weeks ago, in the Odeon cinema, Festival Park, a person sat on something sharp in one of the seats. When she stood up to see what it was, a needle was found poking through the seat with an attached note saying, "you have been infected with HIV". The Centres for Disease Control in Birmingham, reports similar events have taken place in several other cities recently.

ALL of the needles tested HAVE been found positive for HIV. The CDC also reports that needles have been found in the coin return areas of pay phones and coke machines. Everyone is asked to use extreme caution when confronted with these types of situations. All public chairs should be thoroughly but safely inspected prior to any use. A thorough visual inspection is considered the bare minimum.

Further more, they ask that everyone notify their family members and friends of the potential dangers, as well. The previous information was sent from Hanley police station to all of the local councils in the Staffs area and was interdepartmentally dispersed.

We were all asked to pass this to as many people as possible.

Thanks[/i:4fccd453dc] "

I am sure there will be plenty of you will pass this on also.

I know this is supposed to be a happy forum celebrating the joys of moving to NZ, but I guess you all need to know things such as this (even if its only to keep yourself safe until you get on that flight!)

Nick

i could be wrong but I believe it to be a hoax.

Try searching the various news websites for such a story and I think you'll find it conspicuous by its absence.

The fact that some tosser has felt the urge to come up with a hoax such as this is reason enough to flea the UK.

I received the email at work about a month or two ago, and I was told then that it was a hoax..

i hope I'm not wrong.

"pass this on to as many as you can" = hoax most of the time (either that or some wacky political message)
"get X free when you send this to X amount of people" = hoax
"UK has more sunshine than NZ" = hoax

:icon_cool:

www.snopes.com

HIV Needles in movie theatres - http://www.snopes.com/horrors/madmen/pinprick.asp (false)

HIV Needles in telephone coin slots - http://www.snopes.com/horrors/mayhem/payphone.asp (false)

[i:38ad0b7b9f] The big scare, of course, is contracting HIV after being jabbed by a needle. HIV lives only a short time outside of its host medium. Contact with an HIV-contaminated needle would have to occur while the contamination was still fresh to present a danger of infection.[/i:38ad0b7b9f]

My mom has done a lot of work with HIV, and one time I got stuck with a needle. I panicked, and afterwards felt pretty stupid b/c I knew (but forgot when I panicked) that HIV can't live outside of the body for long. Still better to get to hospital and test the needle just to be safe. :icon_cool:

Nice bit of sleuthing, James. That will be a great relief to a lot of folk. Some people really need to take a serious look at themselves if they've nothing better to do than spread this sort of sick stuff around.

Ooops........sorry

I'll keep it to myself next time

Oh hell! I hope you didn't think I meant you Nick. My comments were intended for those that start these things off in the beginning. They cause a lot of unnecessary worry to the likes of us. You did well to let us know, even if it turned out to be a hoax, and thank you for that.

the saddest thing about it is..

its beleivable.. if that did happen, you'd be shocked but would you be THAT surprised.!!!

No one can afford to take chances these days. What was originally laughed off as joke material because it was so preposterous, now has to be taken seriously, as there are so many oddballs around who are capable of things we?d never once have dreamt of. And they get into all areas of our lives, nothing is sacred any more. I?d rather be sent a message like this one and be on my guard, despite it later being proved to be a hoax, than have something happen and wish someone had thought to warn me beforehand. There are so many scams of all sorts around today that, in my case, it?s ?guilty until proven innocent? and not the other way round. Very sad.

Yeah Nick, we weren't taking shots at you. No worries mate.

Now, you 4th of July copy cats having "Guy Fox" day, I'll take "shots" at that all day. (I mispelled it on purpose :icon_wink: )