archaeology

[Nick]

Many nasty bugs die quickly outside the body. HIV is a notably fragile virus. Some, such as tetanus, thrive under mucky conditions like that.

Hepatitis dies within a few days, as do many others. Tetanus can be bad news if you have no immunity (I had full-blown tetanus as a child - it wasn't a good experience).

Most folk have decent immunity to tetanus having had shots at some point in their lives, but you may need a booster. I had three shots a day for several weeks, so I'm apparently in a safe zone on that!

The thing about "sharps", specifically needles, is that they easily get through gardening gloves, something that glass rarely does.