Employees at the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department in Charleston demonstrated their new Sterilis machine Monday at the Charleston office. The machine, which is about the size of an office copy machine, sterilizes needles and syringes and then grinds them up into a confetti-like substance, according to a news release from the agency. The health department started a harm reduction clinic in December 2015 to address the number of hepatitis C and HIV occurrences in the state. About 300 people attend the clinic weekly and about 85 percent of returning patients bring syringes back. The health department said nearly 200,000 needles have been returned since the clinic began.
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