Could a dirty needle gameplay function work?

[Atomic Postman]

Obviously in the Fallout series, a lot of chems are needle based, and most of the chems with these needles are found out in the wild, in some old box in the middle of the desert or in the clinic of a long abandoned vault.

Obviously, in a real situation, dirty needles would be quite the problem.

So, my question is: Would a gameplay element centered around dirty needles work? and how would it work?

 

[Oppen]

There could be a flag randomly or deterministically activated for the item, and it could poison the player. I think that's the simplest way.

 

[zegh8578]

Wtf, would the player then get HIV or something?
o_o

 

[Oppen]

I thought more of an infection.

 

[Silencer]

HIV survives only an indeterminate length of time outside the host's system; Research has shown that it may be "several days" - certainly not decades that it'd take for a needle cache to be discovered.

Even if the needles are to be found in an "old box", chances are they are still in their protective packaging. I am unsure of how good that holds up after a long,long time and I don't know if there is any research to substantiate that, short of perhaps finding a WWII medikit somewhere in the Pacific islands (likely in a cargo cult temple).

I'd be more inclined to believe that any dangers from using (not re-using) hypodermic needles would likely come from any harmful agents on the dirty,contaminated skin itself, than the actual syringe. So any formula to work out the probability of an infection should include hours since last bath and multiplication by a boolean value for "swabbed"

But then again, I'm an X, not a doctor

 

[Makta]

Wtf, would the player then get HIV or something?
o_o

Drugs are bad mmmkay?

 

[SnapSlav]

Wtf, would the player then get HIV or something?
o_o

Tetanus.

 

[zegh8578]

Wtf, would the player then get HIV or something?
o_o

Tetanus.

:'D

I'm beginning to really like this idea