U.S. Senators to Hold Hearings After Veterans Test Positive for Infections

A U.S. Senate committee will ask officials with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs how mistakes at three VA medical centers in the Southeast, including a clinic in Augusta, may have exposed veterans to infections such as HIV and hepatitis.

The Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs has set a June 24 hearing for VA officials to explain how mistakes with endoscopic equipment possibly exposed patients to infectious body fluids in Augusta, Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Miami.

The committee's announcement comes shortly after a U.S. House of Representatives Veterans Affairs subcommittee announced it would hold its own hearing on June 16.

The VA has warned more than 10,000 former patients at the three medical centers to get follow-up blood checks. Five of the patients have tested positive for HIV so far, and 43 have tested positive for hepatitis.

In Augusta, the problem affected rhinoscopes in an ear, nose and throat clinic at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center. Officials in February said an employee improperly sterilized the rhinoscopes with disinfectant designed for exam tables instead of a stronger one specifically designed for the scopes.

A top doctor at the federal agency has stressed that the positive results for the diseases may not have come from hospital mistakes.

Veterans Affairs Will Avoid HIV Link

A top doctor at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs says former patients who tested positive for HIV or hepatitis will not be able to show they were infected by tainted equipment at VA medical centers. Five patients have tested positive for HIV and 33 have tested positive for hepatitis since the VA started notifying more than 11,000 people treated at three VA medical centers in Miami, Georgia and Tennessee that they may have been exposed to infectious body fluids after using endoscopic equipment that wasn't properly sterilized. The blood tests are continuing. The agency has stressed that the positive results for the diseases may not have come from hospital mistakes. The VA's chief patient safety officer, Dr. Jim Bagian, said he doesn't think anyone will ever know.

(Associated Press)

GA VA Patient Tests HIV Positive after Contamination

A patient at a Georgia Veterans Affair clinic has tested positive for HIV after being exposed to contaminated medical equipment.

The Department of Veterans Affairs says unverified tests show that this is the third person to have the virus that causes AIDS among thousands getting blood tests because equipment wasn’t properly sanitized. That’s one patient each from Murfreesboro Tennessee, Augusta Georgia, and a Miami medical facility.

The contaminated endoscopic machines exposed the patients to the body fluid of others.

The VA also said six tests have come back positive for Hepatitis B, and 19 positive tests for Hepatitis C among the three locations.

(Associated Press)

Veterans to be Tested for HIV and Hepatitis After Improper Sanitization at Medical Clinic

About 1200 military veterans need to undergo testing for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C after personnel at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center discovered that rhinoscopes at an ear nose and throat clinic were improperly sterilized.

The testing involves veterans who underwent procedures in which the rhinoscopes were used at the clinic between January and November, 2008. Officials at the VA center, in Augusta, say the risk of infection is extremely small.

The disinfectant used to clean the scopes during that time period was designed for surfaces such as exam tables, and not one recommended by the rhinoscopes' manufacturer, although chemical activity is similar, according to Dr. John Brice, chief of medicine and acting chief of staff at the medical center.

Doctors use the rhinoscopes to exam sinuses and the upper airway passages of patients.

Brice says an employee was apparently not trained properly on the cleaning procedures. He says the problem began when a nurse at the clinic left, and rapid employee turnover followed. The problem was caught during an annual review of procedures at the clinic. Brice says the center is stepping up training procedures and increasing reviews there to quarterly, at the least. He says an investigation into the matter is ongoing, and that scopes, at this time, are being cleaned at another location.

Brice says the issue was confined to the clinic, and did not happen at the hospital there.

The center is this week sending out letters to the veterans who were possibly exposed to infections.

The VA center has a hotline for the veterans. For more information, call (706) 731-7229 from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. on weekdays, or (800) 836-5561 after hours.

For more information from the VA, click here.