The infection was not caused by the pin itself.....it was probably caused by the hole the pin made and strep/staph are both opportunistic infections. Which means in layman terms......you had the orgamism (strep bug) on your hand and the pin pushed it under your nail and into your skin when it pierced the surface. Neither staph nor strep live on metal but do live on nice warm skin. Most of us are naturally carriers of staph aureus and it has nothing to do with cleanliness (honest). Now having said that....if you put your pins into your mouth to hold (a very bad habit I have)then you certainly can transfer germs onto the pin which could then be pushed into your skin. It would have to happen relatively quickly though. It's kind of scary when you think about orgamisms (germs) and where they are located. Everything we touch can be transferred onto our hands and then has the potential to cause infection. Most of the time it ends up as a viral infection though and does not occur as a cellulitis like you ended up with. Again...it was the event itself....sticking yourself....that caused the infection, not the pin. Does this help or make sense? The moral to my story is....unless your pins/needles are dirty,dirty dirty they don't need to be cleaned or disinfected. By the way, I'm basing this recommendation on 25yrs of nursing experience and not from just sleeping in a Holiday Inn last night. LOL Hope your infection clears up quickly....it is painful! Ask me how I know :)