Five patients of the Department of Veterans Affairs have tested positive for HIV because of contaminated medical equipment at three different VA hospitals.
In addition to the five, seven patients tested positive for hepatitis due to the same reasons, bringing the total to 33 patients now with hepatitis.
The spread of disease is the direct result of equipment that was not sterilized properly. Patients were exposed to dirty instruments used for colonoscopies, ear, nose and throat procedures covered in the bodily fluids of others.
Nearly 11,000 former sailors, soldiers, airmen and Marines could have been exposed at the hospitals in Miami, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and Augusta, Georgia. The agency says it doesn't yet know if the HIV and hepatitis cases are related to its treatment.
