Survival of HIV-1 in syringes: Effects of temperature during storage

In a previous paper we demonstrated that HIV-1 survival in syringes was str ongly associated with the volume of blood remaining and with the duration o f storage at room temperature. The current study was performed to determine the effects of storage temperature upon the survival of HIV-1 inside syrin ges. At 4 degrees C, 50% of all syringes contained viable HIV-1 at 42 days of storage, the longest storage duration tested. At room temperature (20 de grees C), the last day that syringes with 2 mu L of infected blood were pos itive was Day 21, and viable HIV-1 was recovered from 8% of syringes. The l ast day on which syringes with 20 mu L were positive was Day 42, and viable HIV-1 was recovered from 8% of syringes. Above room temperature (27, 32, a nd 37 degrees C), the likelihood of encountering syringes with viable HIV-1 when periods of storage exceeded 1 week decreased to less than 1%. The tem peratures at which drug injectors are likely to store their used syringes w ill vary according to climate, season, and circumstances faced by the injec tor. The. survival of HIV-1 in contaminated syringes varied over a range of temperatures, and this may be a factor influencing the syringe-borne trans mission of HIV-1.