A WEE COUNTY man says he will now have to wait months for blood tests after he has been accidentally jabbed by a discarded needle.

David Taylor, who is celebrating his 48th birthday this week, claims a hypodermic needle got stuck in his leg while he was clearing weeds out of the rear garden of his Alva council flat, which is shared with three other properties.

The father-of-two says the incident happened two weeks ago on Monday, June 13, and he now lives in fear as he could have contracted Hepatitis B or even HIV.

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Mr Taylor, a biker, said: “Initially, I was just panicking.

“I went to the council, I did not even go to my GP, I went to the council – I did not have enough money to get myself to Falkirk or Stirling, wherever I had to go.

“I said look, this is what happened, I want you to give me money for a taxi to get to a clinic, to get to a hospital. They said that’s not going to happen, [and told me:] ‘the best advice we can give you is go and see your GP and we might do a needle-sweep on your garden’.”

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He has also found more discarded items of drugs paraphernalia in the area.

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Viruses like HIV or Hepatitis B can take months to show up in the blood tests; it takes the human body’s immune system time to produce enough antibodies that can be detected in samples.

Until then, Mr Taylor remains in limbo, and is paranoid as he awaits his fate.

He added: “I cannot shut my eyes, all I can see is my kidneys collapse and then my skin turning yellow and looking like a freaking junkie myself. And I am certainly not a junkie.

“I just don’t deserve this sh*t, as far as I’m concerned.”

Fearing he may infect his family, he has now decided not to even hug his daughters, even though the viruses cannot be transmitted that way.

Mr Taylor used to be a joiner before he suffered a series of heart attacks, which left him unable to work in 2010.

He has been told that there is very little chance he got HIV – most viruses die extremely quickly once exposed to open air. Apart from Hepatitis B.

He said: “If Hepatitis B was on that needle it will not die, and if it was on that needle there’s a damn-good chance I’m going to end up with Hepatitis B.

“If that’s not enough to worry somebody sick every freaking night for the next six months I don’t know what is.”

Mr Taylor said he had raised his various issues with the council. He claimed his blue and brown wheelie bins were full and “contaminated to the max” when he moved in around February and said that the garden was untidy and totally full of weeds.

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However, it is believed the council has no record of any reports of problems, but it is understood the matter will now be looked into.

According to standard procedures, all new tenants are expected to get a visit from their housing officer within a few weeks of the start of their tenancy.

A Clackmannanshire Council spokesperson said: “We try to do our best for all council tenants, especially when they bring issues to our attention.

“Scottish Housing Regulator’s Landlord Report on the Social Housing Charter shows that Clackmannanshire Council has above average satisfaction with the standard of the property when tenants move into their home.”