Sharing of syringes by injection drug users is a principal means by wh
ich the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is spread. Some have sugges
ted that distributing syringes that are difficult to reuse (DTR) would
slow the spread of HIV. We developed a simple mathematical model that
describes how changes in the numbers of DTR syringes or regular syrin
ges consumed over the course of a fixed number of injections affects t
he proportion of injections that are potentially infectious and, thus,
the transmission of HIV. It suggests that increasing consumption of e
ither type of syringe will reduce the proportion of potentially infect
ious injections, but that, per syringe added, the reduction is always
greater if a regular rather than a DTR syringe is added. Similarly, in
troducing a certain number of DTR syringes and simultaneously reducing
the consumption of regular syringes by the same number will increase,
not decrease, the proportion of infectious injections. DTR syringes a
re more expensive than regular syringes, so there is little justificat
ion for substituting them for regular syringes.