Risky 'Bluetoothing' Is Causing a Surge in HIV

A risky trend known as "bluetoothing" is raising alarms among health officials globally. The practice involves injecting oneself with the blood of someone who's already taken drugs, in hopes of getting a secondary high on the cheap, per the New York Times. While sharing needles has long been known to spread diseases like HIV and hepatitis, experts warn that bluetoothing is "many times riskier," and that its emergence in places like Fiji and South Africa is fueling a surge in new HIV infections. The United Nations says the problem is most concentrated among people ages 15 to 34, and the trend is also gaining ground in poor communities in Africa and Asia, where drug prices and policing have made access to drugs tougher.

The mechanics are simple but dangerous: One person injects heroin or meth, then another person injects the first person's drug-laden blood into themselves. Health data out of Fiji is particularly stark: New HIV cases have increased tenfold since 2014, with authorities partly blaming bluetoothing, also called "hotspotting," for the spike. "I saw the needle with the blood—it was right there in front of me," Kalesi Volatabu, executive director for the Drug Free World-Fiji NGO, recalls to the BBC. "This young woman, she'd already had the shot and she's taking out the blood, and then you've got other girls, other adults, already lining up to be hit with this thing."

Maj. Gen. Khomo Mohobo of the Lesotho Defence Force tells the Guardian that kids with limited funds will often pool their money to buy drugs that one person in the group injects, allowing the others to "bluetooth" off of them. Despite the apparent cost savings, experts say the resulting high is often weak or even a placebo effect—hardly worth the steep risks, which include deadly blood incompatibility reactions and rapid disease transmission. In some places, like Tanzania, the practice—known there as "flashblooding"—has spread from city centers to the suburbs, disproportionately affecting vulnerable groups like women in temporary housing. There are even reports from Pakistan of used, blood-filled syringes being sold.