1812 veterans at risk of getting HIV due to dirty dental equipment

About 2000 veterans who received dental procedures at  a St. Louis VA Medical Center may be at risk of contracting viral infections such as hepatitis and HIV, the Associated Press cited the Veterans Administration as saying Thursday.

The problem, which was found in March 11, was that the dental equipment was washed without using a detergent as specified in the standard sterization procedure and this practice could potentially have led to a chance of spreading HIV and other infections from one patient to another.

"The mistakes made at the St. Louis VA Medical Center are unacceptable, and steps have been and continue to be taken to correct this situation and assure the safety of our veterans," VA Secretary Eric Shinseki was quoted by the AP as saying.

Only on Monday was a letter sent to the 1812 veterans who had dental procedures at the dental facility from Feb 1 through March 11 this year.  But Marcena Gunter, a spokeswoman for the hospital was cited as saying that the delay was due to the need to evaluate the irsk posed to the veterans.

As of Tursday, 184 veterans had already signed up to get tested for a variety of infections including hepatis B, C and HIV.  Thus far, no infection has been detected in about 100 veterans who have received the blood tests.

Dental health care can be a route for HIV to spread even though the risk is considered extremely small.

Carol Ciesielski and colleagues from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigated a case in which at least five patients who received dental care from a HIV infected dentist got infected with the virus and they reported in 1992 in Annals of Internal Medicine that epidemiologic evidence suggests that these patients got HIV from their dentist.

Jimmy Downs