Woman walking at Lake Quinsigamond finds needle stuck in bare foot

SHREWSBURY, Mass. — A Shrewsbury woman is recovering after she stepped on a dirty needle while barefoot.

The young woman was walking along Lake Quinsigamond last week when she stepped right on a needle and it went into the bottom of her foot.

Sarah Direda, 21, told Boston 25 News her foot became infected.

She immediately went to an urgent care clinic to get a tetanus shot.

When it got worse, she went to the emergency room to get placed on antibiotics.

Fortunately, she tested negative for HIV and Hepatitis. But she’s disgusted by the whole thing.

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This week, she walked along Lake Quinsigamond and collected a handful dirty needles.

It’s hard to know if they’re washing up or if people are just leaving them along the water.

We did speak the father of a toddler who pulled a dirty needle out of the lake a couple days ago.

"There was a washed-up syringe, it was bent over in the water right here. I'd say about ten feet out from the shore,” the father, Jason Maloney, said. "That scared me because he would think it was a toy. He thinks everything is a toy. He throws everything in the water and puts everything in his mouth."

Fortunately, Sarah Direda is going to be okay.

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