A B.C. family is facing an agonizing wait to find out whether their toddler picked up a serious infection while handling a discarded needle.

Emily Krebs said her 17-month-old son Xavier was playing in the yard of their Kelowna apartment building in mid-May when he found the needle. Before she could intervene, the child placed the needle in his mouth and ear.

“I just grabbed him,” Krebs said. “I put him in one sink and the needle in the other and I sterilized his hands, his legs, his face, everything.”

The toddler has been sick ever since, according to his mother. Unfortunately, because of how long it can take hepatitis and HIV to show up in blood tests, the family will have to wait six months to find out if Xavier got a potentially life-altering infection.

“I’m scared, I’m mad, I’m sad, I’m angry and all at the same time,” Krebs said.

In the meantime, Krebs said she’s urging her landlord to do a better job of cleaning up and warning other parents to be extra-careful.

The Downtown Kelowna Association said discarded needles have become a common sight in the city.

“It happens on a daily basis,” Ron Beahun said. “We are proactive in looking for them throughout the downtown area.”

Health authorities said residents can safely dispose of a needle they spot by putting on rubber gloves, picking it up with tongs or tweezers and placing in a sharp-proof container such as a coffee can.

Beahun said people would be better off calling someone who knows what they’re doing, however.

“It is something you can do, but I don’t highly recommend it because if you’re not doing it properly there is the [possibility] of getting poked,” he said.

With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Kent Molgat