2023-11-18 22:36:46
Approximately 450 patients were exposed to HIV, hepatitis B or hepatitis C over a two-year period at Salem Hospital in Massachusetts.
These people would have been exposed to these diseases during an endoscopy, reports CNN.
All affected patients were contacted and tested free of charge for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV.
“There is no indication to date that anyone was infected as a result of this incident,” the hospital said in a statement.
The US Department of Public Health says it is working with the hospital to “manage the situation” and adds that the risk of infection following this exposure is “relatively low”.
This is not the first time such mass exposure to serious illnesses has occurred in the United States.
In 2018 in particular, more than 3,000 patients at a surgery center in Saddle Brook, New Jersey, were exposed to several pathogens such as hepatitis B and C as well as HIV.
An investigation by the New Jersey Department of Health found that employees at HealthPlus Surgery Center did not follow procedures exactly, which caused this incident.
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