VA: Three Patients Now Confirmed HIV Poz After Botched Procedures

Three patients exposed to contaminated medical equipment at Veterans Affairs hospitals have tested positive for HIV, the agency said Friday.

Initial tests show one patient each from VA medical facilities in Murfreesboro, Tenn.; Augusta, Ga.; and Miami has the virus that causes AIDS, according to a VA statement.

The three cases included one positive HIV test reported earlier this month, but the VA didn't identify the facility involved at the time.

The patients are among more than 10,000 getting tested because they were treated with endoscopic equipment that wasn't properly sterilized and exposed them to other people's body fluids.

The VA also said there have been six positive tests for the hepatitis B virus and 19 positive tests for hepatitis C at the three locations.

There's no way to prove patients were exposed to the viruses at its facilities, the agency said.

"These are not necessarily linked to any endoscopy issues and the evaluation continues," the statement said.

The VA has said it does not yet know if veterans treated with the same kind of equipment at its other 150 hospitals may have been exposed to the same mistake before the department had a nationwide safety training campaign.

An agency spokeswoman has said the mistake with the equipment was corrected nationwide by the time the campaign ended March 14. The problems discovered in December date back more than five years at the Murfreesboro and Miami hospitals.

The VA's disclosure Friday was the department's first comment since April 3, when the VA reported the one positive HIV test.

VA spokeswoman Katie Roberts, in an email reply, said the HIV results "still need to be verified" in additional tests.

The Friday statement said the VA is "continuing to notify individuals whose letters have been returned as undeliverable, and working with homeless coordinators to reach veterans with no known home address."

The statement also said the VA has assigned more than 100 employees at the three locations to "ensure that affected veterans receive prompt testing and appropriate counseling."

All three sites used endoscopic equipment made by Olympus American Inc., which has said in a statement it is helping the VA address problems with "inadvertently neglecting to appropriately reprocess a specific auxiliary water tube." Courtesy Time Magazine.