Dangerous endoscopy – 450 hospital patients exposed to HIV and hepatitis

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In a hospital in the US state of Massachusetts, approximately 450 patients may have been exposed to hepatitis and HIV in the past two years.

Patients could have become infected during endoscopy at Salem Hospital, the clinic warned in a statement. During the examination, the doctor inserts a tubular instrument into the patient’s body. The message does not state exactly how the contamination could have occurred.

The hospital has contacted all affected people and tested people for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV, CNN writes.

Risk of infection low
“So far there is no evidence of infections as a result of the incident,” a hospital spokesperson told the American television channel. It was concluded that the risk of infection to patients from this event was extremely low. “We sincerely apologize to everyone involved,” the message continued.

Hepatitis B and C are liver infections caused by a virus. It is transmitted by sharing needles, syringes and other injection equipment. In addition, infection is also possible through sexual contact.

Scandal involving 3,000 patients
In 2018, there was a major scandal at a surgery center in Saddle Brook, New Jersey. Employees had failed to properly clean medical instruments, leaving 3,000 patients at risk of infection with blood-borne pathogens such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV.

Source: Krone

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