The Pinellas County School District says a student brought an insulin pen to school Friday morning, with atleast 15 kids poked with the pen.
School police and paramedics were at Sandy Lane Elementary investigating which students were poked. Officials said the insulin pen was being passed around the cafeteria Friday morning during breakfast, before classes started.
The kids were sticking each other with the pen.
A letter went home to parents asking them to talk to their kids and ask them if they might have been poked with the pen. For the students known to have been involved, their parents were immediately contacted.
The district says they are having the insulin pen analyzed for any possible contamination.
“School police are looking for a place to have it analyzed to see if there is any reason for concern, any issues, we just want to know everything we can about it," said Melanie Marquez, with the Pinellas County School District.
"You've got to worry about all the disease out there and some of them don't show up for five years. It's very scary," said Ken McDowell, uncle of a student.
Bay News 9’s Priority Health Expert Dr. Randy Shuck says injections of insulin in a healthy individual is potentially dangerous.
“It can cause a severe drop in glucose (sugar) and lead to hypoglycemia, shock, and even death,” Shuck said. “The sharing of needles is the leading cause of spread for Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C, as well as HIV.”