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UPDATE: INFECTED VET COUNT FROM CONTAMINATED
EQUIPMENT NOW STANDS AT 16 -- Ten vets who got a
colonoscopy at Murfreesboro and six who had an
ENT
endoscopic exam at Augusta are infected.
All information about VA's contaminated equipment
is found on this page...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/contaminatedequipment.htm
Story here...
http://www.google.com/ho
stednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hRfzwTuaKGy
WdjqvjGCLJpLI6AlAD976K40G0
Story below:
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-------------------------
VA: 16 patients of problem clinics infected
By BILL POOVEY
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — Viral infections, including hepatitis, have been
found in 16 patients exposed to contaminated equipment at Veterans Affairs
medical facilities, a department spokeswoman said Friday. So far, 10
colonoscopy patients from the VA medical center in Murfreesboro, Tenn.,
have tested positive for hepatitis, VA spokeswoman Katie Roberts told The
Associated Press.
In a later e-mail, she reported six patients at the VA's ear, nose and
throat clinic in Augusta, Ga, tested positive for unspecified viral
infections.
The number of reported infections could rise.
More than 10,000 veterans were warned to get blood tests because they
could have been exposed to contamination at those two facilities plus a
medical center in Miami. All three sites failed to properly sterilize
equipment between treatments, and the problems dated back for more than
five years at the Murfreesboro and Miami hospitals.
Roberts said the department doesn't yet have results from most of the
veterans it warned.
A VA alert to patients said they "could have been exposed to body fluids
from a previous patient."
Roberts said four Tennessee patients have tested positive for hepatitis B
and six have tested positive for hepatitis C. No one has tested positive
for HIV, she said.
Hepatitis is a viral infection of the liver. The most common form,
hepatitis C, is potentially life-threatening and can cause permanent liver
damage. Both the B and C forms are spread by contact with the blood or
other body fluid of an infected person, according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
Roberts stressed that the source of the infections isn't known and may
never be identified.
"There's no way to scientifically, conclusively prove they contracted this
due to treatment at our facility," Roberts said.
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But the VA will make sure those who tested positive "get the best possible
treatment," she said.
The VA's inspector general office has started a review, spokeswoman Joanne
Moffett said Friday.
According to a VA e-mail, only about half of the Murfreesboro and Augusta
patients notified by letter of a mistake that exposed them to "potentially
infectious fluids" have requested department blood tests.
Some veterans said they decided to seek tests from their private
physicians, rather than the VA.
The public first became aware of problems in February, when the agency
announced it had sent letters to about 6,400 patients who had
colonoscopies between April 23, 2003, and Dec. 1, 2008, at Murfreesboro
and to about 1,800 patients treated over 11 months last year at Augusta.
 Roberts
said the problem in Tennessee was discovered in December and an internal
alert was issued.
This week the VA announced it sent letters advising 3,260 patients who had
colonoscopies between May 2004 and March 12 at the Miami Veterans Affairs
Healthcare System that they also should get tests for HIV, hepatitis and
other infectious diseases.
"We feel that the risk of cross-contamination among patients is small, and
many patients are at no risk whatsoever," Dr. William E. Duncan of the VA
Health Administration said in an e-mail. "Since we cannot know which
patients are at risk, we are notifying everyone we feel may possibly have
been placed at risk."
Two weeks after a review of procedures and training at VA facilities
nationwide, Roberts said the VA cannot yet say if patients at other
locations were exposed to equipment that was not properly sterilized.
U.S. Rep Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., said VA officials told her and other
members of Congress on Thursday that the Miami facility initially reported
it was free from problems only to later backtrack.
Ros-Lehtinen said the details were disclosed by the VA in a closed-door
meeting convened by U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind., the top Republican on
the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Joe Davis, a spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Washington,
said he has notified his 20,000 newsletter subscribers about the
situation.
"We are obviously very concerned anytime anybody's health is at risk from
going to see the doctor," he said Friday. "We believe the VA has done an
adequate job in quickly notifying those veterans who might be affected."
Associated Press writer Matt Sedensky in Miami contributed to this report.
-------------------------
posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
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