A teenage boy is facing criminal charges after he allegedly pricked eight students at a western Sydney high school with a syringe.
The teenagers who received puncture wounds to their hands and legs face a nervous few months before being cleared of any disease risk, following the incident at Plumpton High School yesterday.
NSW Ambulance claimed the 14-year-old picked up the syringe from a bus stop.
Two students were taken to Mt Druitt Hospital, while several others were sent to medical centres with their parents to undergo urgent baseline blood tests.
The alleged offender was charged overnight after he was found at a home in Glendenning at about 6:00pm.
He was taken to Mount Druitt Police Station to be interviewed and faces five counts of assault.
The boy was granted bail and will appear at a children's court on November 6.
Acting Inspector Shane Rolls described the injuries as "minor".
He said the behaviour was "concerning" but reiterated no student was "stabbed", with police initially believing the matter was a "stunt gone wrong".
"We will certainly be looking into if there was any malicious intent in this incident," he said yesterday.
It was concerning for everyone in the community that a syringe was lying on the ground in a public space, he added.
Joe Ibrahim from NSW Ambulance compared the potential disease risk to what paramedics were exposed to on the job.
"The first blood test is a baseline test and you do worry about that for up to three months, it's quite concerning," he said.
However, he also described the wounds as "quite minimal" and said the risk of contracting anything was low.
The school held an assembly to do a headcount of students following the incident.
Nervous parents arrived early yesterday to pick up their children after hearing about the alleged attack on the internet and through friends.
The NSW Department of Education said staff and students were being offered counselling.
"The school will be taking strong disciplinary action against this student," a spokesman said in a statement.
