Troops possibly exposed to HIV, hepatitis

[Guest guest]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/05/24/3225548.htm

Defence troops possibly exposed to HIV, hepatitis

By Jacquelyn Hole

The Defence Force chief(Australia) says a medical blunder at a military hospital

in the Middle East may have exposed Australian troops to serious infections.

The Defence Department today conceded there were faulty sterilisation procedures

at the Al Minhad air base and warned all soldiers who have had procedures there

to undertake a blood-screening test.

The lack of proper sterilisation procedures could have exposed soldiers to

blood-borne diseases such as hepatitis or HIV, but Air Chief Marshal Angus

Houston says no cases of infection have been reported so far.

He says the small health facility, just outside of Dubai in the United Arab

Emirates, is only used for minor medical procedures, such as the removal of skin

lesions and moles.

The Defence Department will not state how many soldiers have been affected by

the safety lapse, but Air Chief Marshal Houston stresses it is unlikely many or

even any soldiers will have been affected.

" I don't expect there to be any cases because the number of surgical procedures

that were conducted there was very, very minimal, and I would assess the risk as

very low, " he said.

The Defence Department only issued a warning to staff last week informing them

of the defect in the surgical instrument steriliser, despite the faulty

equipment operating over a 19-month period throughout 2009 and 2010.

It is not clear how the lapse occurred and if it was a human or machine error

that caused the faulty piece of equipment to continue operating for so long.

The president of Australia's Infection Control Association, Boardman,

says such a lapse would be unusual in an Australian hospital.

" [it would be] relatively uncommon. Where it does occur, it tends to be because

of machine systems failure, " she said.

" It's generally detected early because we do have a number of processes in place

for checking prior to use or reusable sterilisation equipment. "

Reporting lapse

Ms Boardman says the long time lapse in the fault being reported is concerning,

as is the general instruction for Defence personnel to have themselves checked

for possible infections.

" In Australia, we would have early notification through our tracking systems, "

she said.

" Most instrumentation through Australian health care facilities, whether it be

in perioperative or surgical settings or dental settings, we have the ability to

track and recognise early systems failure. "

According to Ms Boardman, the infection control standards in the United Arab

Emirates are not as high as in Australia, and many of their medical staff come

from countries with very little training in this field.

" Infection control procedures in the United Arab Emirates vary enormously, " she

said.

" If you look at Emirate regions, they have a combination of public and private

hospitals, and many of the health support staff are provided by international

countries. Hence, there's variation in practices.

" I know that the United Emirates is working very hard to improve its infection

control outcomes for patients and to closely examine some of these issues. "

[Guest guest]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/05/24/3225548.htm

Defence troops possibly exposed to HIV, hepatitis

By Jacquelyn Hole

The Defence Force chief(Australia) says a medical blunder at a military hospital

in the Middle East may have exposed Australian troops to serious infections.

The Defence Department today conceded there were faulty sterilisation procedures

at the Al Minhad air base and warned all soldiers who have had procedures there

to undertake a blood-screening test.

The lack of proper sterilisation procedures could have exposed soldiers to

blood-borne diseases such as hepatitis or HIV, but Air Chief Marshal Angus

Houston says no cases of infection have been reported so far.

He says the small health facility, just outside of Dubai in the United Arab

Emirates, is only used for minor medical procedures, such as the removal of skin

lesions and moles.

The Defence Department will not state how many soldiers have been affected by

the safety lapse, but Air Chief Marshal Houston stresses it is unlikely many or

even any soldiers will have been affected.

" I don't expect there to be any cases because the number of surgical procedures

that were conducted there was very, very minimal, and I would assess the risk as

very low, " he said.

The Defence Department only issued a warning to staff last week informing them

of the defect in the surgical instrument steriliser, despite the faulty

equipment operating over a 19-month period throughout 2009 and 2010.

It is not clear how the lapse occurred and if it was a human or machine error

that caused the faulty piece of equipment to continue operating for so long.

The president of Australia's Infection Control Association, Boardman,

says such a lapse would be unusual in an Australian hospital.

" [it would be] relatively uncommon. Where it does occur, it tends to be because

of machine systems failure, " she said.

" It's generally detected early because we do have a number of processes in place

for checking prior to use or reusable sterilisation equipment. "

Reporting lapse

Ms Boardman says the long time lapse in the fault being reported is concerning,

as is the general instruction for Defence personnel to have themselves checked

for possible infections.

" In Australia, we would have early notification through our tracking systems, "

she said.

" Most instrumentation through Australian health care facilities, whether it be

in perioperative or surgical settings or dental settings, we have the ability to

track and recognise early systems failure. "

According to Ms Boardman, the infection control standards in the United Arab

Emirates are not as high as in Australia, and many of their medical staff come

from countries with very little training in this field.

" Infection control procedures in the United Arab Emirates vary enormously, " she

said.

" If you look at Emirate regions, they have a combination of public and private

hospitals, and many of the health support staff are provided by international

countries. Hence, there's variation in practices.

" I know that the United Emirates is working very hard to improve its infection

control outcomes for patients and to closely examine some of these issues. "