Blood mixup at Walter Reed sent HIV patient away

H.I.V.-Positive Person, Told Otherwise, Is Being Sought
New York Times
By SHARON LaFRANIERE
JAN. 15, 2014

For the last six weeks, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center has been engaged in a highly unusual effort to identify an individual who is H.I.V. positive but was wrongly informed that he or she was H.I.V. negative after a mix-up of blood samples taken at the hospital.

The mistake occurred in late October when the military’s flagship hospital, in Bethesda, Md., sent 150 blood samples to a contract laboratory for analysis. One sample tested positive for H.I.V., hospital officials said, but it was wrongly labeled with the name of a patient who subsequent tests showed was not infected.

A hunt is now underway to identify the infected person, who may be in need of treatment and could be unknowingly infecting others through unprotected sex or the sharing of needles.

Hospitals are supposed to have strict safeguards to ensure the integrity of laboratory specimens because the consequences to patients are potentially life-threatening. Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University, said the episode raised questions about the adequacy of the hospital’s procedures. “How sure are they that this didn’t happen before?” he asked.
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VA recommended more than 10,000 former VA patients to get blood tests

Mistakes at VA to be scrutinized by panel
5 patients tested positive for HIV and 39 for hepatitis after exposure

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - A congressional panel will question Department of Veterans Affairs officials about mistakes that put patients at risk of possible exposure to HIV and other infectious body fluids at three VA hospitals.

The VA recommended more than 10,000 former VA patients in Miami, Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Augusta, Ga., get follow-up blood checks. Five have tested positive for HIV and 39 have tested positive for hepatitis.

The U.S. House Committee on Veterans' Affairs oversight and investigations subcommittee has set a June 16 hearing in Washington to look into what caused the problems and what the VA has done to fix them. The VA's inspector general is currently investigating.
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31001407/

VA says 3 positive HIV tests from follow-ups

VA says 3 positive HIV tests from follow-ups

By Bill Poovey - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Apr 17, 2009 19:57:17 EDT

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — 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.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/04/ap_Veterans_Colonoscopie041709/