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Sterifilt BASIC®
A sterile 10µ single-use syringe filter
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Stericup®Sterile single-use 2.5ml aluminium cooker, cotton filter, post-injection pad, available in 5 colours,
pre-attached handle
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Safecooker®Sterile single-use 2.5ml aluminium cooker, cotton filter, attachable handle
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Sterifilt+®A sterile 0.22µ Antibacterial single-use syringe filter
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Maxicup®Sterile single-use 5ml aluminium cooker, cotton filter, post-injection pad, available in 5 colours,
pre-attached handle
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Maxicooker®Sterile single-use 5ml aluminium cooker, cotton filter, attachable handle
Steri5®Sterile single-use cotton filters
The Sterifilt System
The Sterifilt® is a sterile polypropylene single-use syringe filter that has been specially designed to reduce the medical complications that can arise due to the injection of insoluble particles by injecting drug users.
We now have available two types of Sterifilt: Sterifilt BASIC® and Sterifilt+®.
Sterifilt BASIC® is a 10µ polypropylene single-use syringe filter that filters out particles larger than 10µ in diameter.
Sterifilt+® is a 0.22µ antibacterial polypropylene single-use syringe filter that removes bacteria, fungi and insoluble particles larger than 0.22µ in diameter.
For more information refer to https://www.apothicom.org/sterifilt-general-presentation.htm, https://www.apothicom.org/Files/100633/sterifilt_UK.html
and the video link below to see how to use Sterifilt membrane filters properly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KOAT8QSF4c
The Stericup®, Maxicup®, Safecooker® and Maxicooker® are sterile, coloured, aluminium cookers used for mixing drugs, which helps reduce the risk of accidental sharing. Stericup® and Maxicup® are in a pack form and the Safecooker® and Maxicooker® are individually wrapped. Stericup® is a sterile single-use 2.5ml aluminium cooker with a cotton filter and post-injection pad. It is available in 5 different colours and has a pre-attached handle. Maxicup® is a sterile single-use 5ml aluminium cooker with a cotton filter and post-injection pad. It is available in 5 different colours and has a pre-attached handle. Safecooker® is a sterile single-use 2.5ml aluminium cooker with a cotton filter and attachable handle. Maxicooker® is a sterile single-use 2.5ml aluminium cooker with a cotton filter and attachable handle. Steri5® is a packet of five sterile single-use cotton filters. For more information refer to https://www.apothicom.org/stericup-general-presentation.htm, https://www.apothicom.org/maxicup-general-presentation.htmand the video link below to see how to correctly hold and heat a Stericup cookerhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsINBrYA22k The Sterifilt® system, using Sterifilt® and the cookers together, can significantly reduce some of the risks from injecting. Sterifilt® removes the insoluble particles that cause damage to veins and the infections that follow and the cookers help reduce infection and cross contamination due to unhygenic mixing practices and the sharing of equipment.
Using Sterifilt® results in a clearer, cleaner drug solution that can not be obtained with home-made filters. Its unique filter membrane retains only minute quantities of drug - many times less than home-made filters. Saving up Sterifilt® filters and rinsing them out or re-using them will therefore not result in usable quantities of drugs. What's more, Sterifilt® is specifically designed to be a single-use only filter. It should not be used by other people after the first use, because its filter membrane begins to degrade and fail, becoming inefficient and prone to blockage.
Stericup® helps to reduce some of the potential harms arising from sharing and re-use of mixing spoons, such as the transmission of blood-borne viruses. Used together with Sterifilt® , the cookers encourage the adoption of a more hygienic and careful process for preparing drugs for injection and supports a safer injecting technique, which may help to reduce the risk of abcess, endocarditis and cellulitis from bacterial contamination. All cookers comes in five different colours to help reinforce the importance of having one's own equipment and not sharing and thus helps to reduce the inadvertent contamination of individuals' equipment by others. All cookers come in hygienic individual blister packs. This allows the Sterifilt® to be fitted and used without its membrane surface coming into contact with fingers and for the drug solution to be as clean as possible when being mixed in the cookers. Sterifilt® works on insuline syringes (BD, Terumo, Unisharp etc) and all Leur® slip syringe barrels (with no fitted needles)
The Stericup®, Maxicup®, Safecooker® and Maxicooker® are sterile, coloured, aluminium cookers used for mixing drugs, which helps reduce the risk of accidental sharing. Stericup® and Maxicup® are in a pack form and the Safecooker® and Maxicooker® are individually wrapped. Stericup® is a sterile single-use 2.5ml aluminium cooker with a cotton filter and post-injection pad. It is available in 5 different colours and has a pre-attached handle. Maxicup® is a sterile single-use 5ml aluminium cooker with a cotton filter and post-injection pad. It is available in 5 different colours and has a pre-attached handle. Safecooker® is a sterile single-use 2.5ml aluminium cooker with a cotton filter and attachable handle. Maxicooker® is a sterile single-use 2.5ml aluminium cooker with a cotton filter and attachable handle. Steri5® is a packet of five sterile single-use cotton filters. For more information refer to https://www.apothicom.org/stericup-general-presentation.htm, https://www.apothicom.org/maxicup-general-presentation.htmand the video link below to see how to correctly hold and heat a Stericup cookerhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsINBrYA22k The Sterifilt® system, using Sterifilt® and the cookers together, can significantly reduce some of the risks from injecting. Sterifilt® removes the insoluble particles that cause damage to veins and the infections that follow and the cookers help reduce infection and cross contamination due to unhygenic mixing practices and the sharing of equipment.
Using Sterifilt® results in a clearer, cleaner drug solution that can not be obtained with home-made filters. Its unique filter membrane retains only minute quantities of drug - many times less than home-made filters. Saving up Sterifilt® filters and rinsing them out or re-using them will therefore not result in usable quantities of drugs. What's more, Sterifilt® is specifically designed to be a single-use only filter. It should not be used by other people after the first use, because its filter membrane begins to degrade and fail, becoming inefficient and prone to blockage.
Stericup® helps to reduce some of the potential harms arising from sharing and re-use of mixing spoons, such as the transmission of blood-borne viruses. Used together with Sterifilt® , the cookers encourage the adoption of a more hygienic and careful process for preparing drugs for injection and supports a safer injecting technique, which may help to reduce the risk of abcess, endocarditis and cellulitis from bacterial contamination. All cookers comes in five different colours to help reinforce the importance of having one's own equipment and not sharing and thus helps to reduce the inadvertent contamination of individuals' equipment by others. All cookers come in hygienic individual blister packs. This allows the Sterifilt® to be fitted and used without its membrane surface coming into contact with fingers and for the drug solution to be as clean as possible when being mixed in the cookers. Sterifilt® works on insuline syringes (BD, Terumo, Unisharp etc) and all Leur® slip syringe barrels (with no fitted needles)
Consequences of Poor Filtering
Particles and "dirty hits"
Inadvertently injecting insoluble particles can lead to serious health conditions, including abscesses, phlebitis (infected veins), "dirty hits", embolism and oedema. These are good reasons why injecting drug users should filter their mix before injecting. But the kinds of filters usually used (pieces of cigarette filter, tampon, alcohol swabs or cotton wool) are highly inefficient. They can't remove enough of the hazardous particles from the drug mix.
Microbes and viruses
Preparing makeshift filters by hand means that they are easily contaminated by bacteria, which will then go into the mix and be injected. After use, these home-made filters can still retain a small percentage of the original quantity of drug from the mix. This is why they are often re-used, or saved up and either given or sold to other people. Unfortunately, used makeshift filters can be re-used by other people or re-used in a group mix. Bacteria and fungi can also grow in damp, stored filters. Used filters can become contaminated with a virus like HCV (Hepatitis C), HBV (Hepatitis B) or HIV through contact with bloody fingers or used syringes, which can then be passed to other people who might re-use them [Please note: No filter can remove viruses from solutions]
Resources
Information including instruction videos available at https://www.youtube.com/@Apothicom.
Webinar on Filtration and Harm Reduction available at youtube.com/watch?v=PdNy6rHn-90.