VA may have infected 600 veterans with HIV and Hepatitis

[parabelum]

To say I'm furious is an understatement.

"Nearly 600 veterans could have been infected with HIV, Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C at a Veterans Affairs facility in Tomah, Wis. because a dentist didn’t properly clean his instruments."

Note that this character has not been fired yet.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation- ... 92888.html

[Keith B]

This may not be as big an issue as the title says. In the article:

...the dentist was using his own equipment for routine dental exams, then cleaning it and using it again. This violates VA rules, which require use of disposable equipment to ensure sterility.

Most dentists clean their equipment and reuse it. As long as it is put in the autoclave and properly sterilized, it would be fine to use. Looks more like a policy issue than a real health risk as long as he was following good sterilization procedures.

[parabelum]

I hope and pray you're right Keith.

Having been a first responder, several years ago I was involved in potential exposure, and while in the end it all came back kosher, the waiting period was a doozy.

Fingers crossed on this one.

[E.Marquez]

Im not defending this idiot...
But the Article title is misleading, as it was the last time this "scandal" was announced about a year ago.

The title leads you to believe infected instruments were used on almost 600 veterans... NO

Reality is, the instruments were not sanitized after use... So IF one of the patients had a pathogen capable of being transmitted by blood or saliva and if that pathogen was transferred to the instrument, and IF that pathogen survived what ever wipe down or cleaning was down and If a subsequent patient was susceptible to infection then a patient MAY HAVE been infected.
Which is still wrong, and completely preventable..

But it's not like HIV positive blood with live pathogen was covering each and every instrument used to treat 600 Vets, and only by the grace of chance and medical wonder were not all 600 infected.

[WTR]

Im not defending this idiot...
But the Article title is misleading, as it was the last time this "scandal" was announced about a year ago.

The title leads you to believe infected instruments were used on almost 600 veterans... NO

Reality is, the instruments were not sanitized after use... So IF one of the patients had a pathogen capable of being transmitted by blood or saliva and if that pathogen was transferred to the instrument, and IF that pathogen survived what ever wipe down or cleaning was down and If a subsequent patient was susceptible to infection then a patient MAY HAVE been infected.
Which is still wrong, and completely preventable..

But it's not like HIV positive blood with live pathogen was covering each and every instrument used to treat 600 Vets, and only by the grace of chance and medical wonder were not all 600 infected.

What makes you say the instruments were not sanitized?

[E.Marquez]

What makes you say the instruments were not sanitized?

The article for this instance
"According to acting Medical Center Director Victoria Brahm, the dentist was using his own equipment for routine dental exams, then cleaning it and using it again. This violates VA rules, which require use of disposable equipment to ensure sterility.

Last time it happened and was caught it was improper autoclave procedures, or no autoclave at all.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/30/va.hospital.hiv/

[WTR]

What makes you say the instruments were not sanitized?

The article for this instance
"According to acting Medical Center Director Victoria Brahm, the dentist was using his own equipment for routine dental exams, then cleaning it and using it again. This violates VA rules, which require use of disposable equipment to ensure sterility.

Last time it happened and was caught it was improper autoclave procedures, or no autoclave at all.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/30/va.hospital.hiv/

The article says the instruments were cleaned and reused. The article does ot state how the integuments were cleaned. He could have used phenol for all we know or may have autoclaved them..He obviously wanted to use reusable metal picks not some plastic junk. The article is poorly written.

[E.Marquez]

. The article is poorly written.

That was my point from the get go...

And I agree, it says he cleaned disposable implements and that is the violation. But as the article failed to do...provide detail.
You did as well.... you implied he was using metal instruments and cleaning those, not disposable non metal ...the article does not say that. (because its poorly written)
So reality is, it could be the plastic tip on the end of a suction tube he was reusing.....You would think that insane...but who knows.....we dont from the article thats sure.

Finally..again we agree...the article was written to elicit emotional response..as soon as a thinking person reads it, they see it for what it is, empty of any facts that support "VA may have infected 600 veterans with HIV and Hepatitis"