Dirty instruments at base clinic put US troops at risk of HIV, hepatitis – Air Force

FILE PHOTO: Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar. © Global Look Press

Endoscopes used for upper and lower gastrointestinal procedures were “cleaned in a manner inconsistent with sterilization guidelines” between April 2008 and April 2016, the Air Force Surgeon General said Monday. Over that period, the base clinic used those medical tools in 135 procedures.

The risk of infection is “very small, particularly in a deployed environment,” the surgeon general’s spokeswoman, Larine Barr, told the Air Force Times. All members of the US military are required to have a negative HIV test before they deploy, and the Air Force also tests members for hepatitis B.

Even though the risk of infection is small, patients who may have been exposed should get tested, Brigadier General Robert Miller, commander of the Air Force Medical Operations Agency, said in a statement.

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