Fourth VA Patient Tests Positive for HIV, Officials Say

A fourth patient treated at a Department of Veterans Affairs medical facility has tested positive for HIV after being exposed to unsanitary medical equipment during exams, VA officials said.

Infections have been reported following procedures at several VA facilities in Florida, Tennessee, and Georgia. Last month, officials said plastic tubing and other medical equipment used during colonoscopies, ear, nose, and throat exams, and other procedures were not properly cleaned or were reused on patients instead of being thrown away.

HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) can lead to AIDS, a deadly condition which suppresses the immune system and can allow the spread of opportunistic infections.

Test results made public today confirm the latest HIV infection in a patient treated at a VA hospital in Miami. It is the second such infection linked to the Miami location.

Patients treated at VA clinics in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and August, Ga., previously have tested positive for HIV. As many as 11,000 veterans who were treated at the clinics have been advised to get blood tests to determine whether they were infected, officials said.

VA officials also have increased the number of people believed to have been exposed to hepatitis C as a result of the unsanitary medical equipment to 20.

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