What if dried blood gets in a crevice in a syringe–will it still live?
First, needles and syringes should not be re-used or shared. Full-strength bleach is recommended to disinfect needles and syringes for those that have no other option but to share. The need to use full-strength bleach is related to the difficulty in cleaning the inner parts of the equipment and being unable to scrub the small, inaccessible areas that may contain infectious matter. In particular, needles and syringes used by persons who inject drugs often contain clotted blood in their recessed areas, which is more difficult to clean and disinfect and may be more effectively inactivated by full-strength bleach. In addition, needles and syringes can place HIV directly into the bloodstream, while environmental surfaces are much less likely to facilitate transmission of the virus. Should the disinfected needle dry out before re-using it? In the context of disinfecting syringes and needles in this setting, there is no difference in the safety of a wet or dry needle that has been disinfected
