St. Louis Va Dental Disease Exposure

[gdsnide]

OK I received a letter from the St.Louis VA saying " I may have been exposed to Hepatitis B,Hep C & HIV

Letter said to come in & get a blood test if one wants & "Don't worry" as its no big deal problem as someone wasn't cleaning Dental Tools correcttly & you may have been exposed to these diseases

I was at the VA Hospital today & my Daughter called me & told me about the certified letter I had received & what it said

I had a blood test & they said they would have the results in about 2 weeks

Everyone very reassuring that its very unlikely anyone has anything so stay calm

Find article about this below Not sure what is going on but sounds rather serious to me....Was told I could file a claim or a tort claim on this but guess that depends on the blood tests

Also, we're to be retested in 6 months

Does anyone know if it's possible this stuff won't show up in a blood test & one still has it?.....GARY

Veterans receiving dental care may have been exposed to ...

Jun 29, 2010 ... (KMOV)-- More than 1800 veterans in the St. Louis area may have been exposed to potentially life threatening diseases at the John Cochran VA Hospital. ... The veterans administration is contacting veterans from Missouri ...

www.kmov.com/.../Veterans-receiving-dental-care-may-have-been-exposed-to-potentially-deadly-diseases-97431474.html - 2 hours ago

[*Bergie*]

OK I received a letter from the St.Louis VA saying " I may have been exposed to Hepatitis B,Hep C & HIV

Letter said to come in & get a blood test if one wants & "Don't worry" as its no big deal problem as someone wasn't cleaning Dental Tools correcttly & you may have been exposed to these diseases

I was at the VA Hospital today & my Daughter called me & told me about the certified letter I had received & what it said

I had a blood test & they said they would have the results in about 2 weeks

Everyone very reassuring that its very unlikely anyone has anything so stay calm

Find article about this below Not sure what is going on but sounds rather serious to me....Was told I could file a claim or a tort claim on this but guess that depends on the blood tests

Also, we're to be retested in 6 months

Does anyone know if it's possible this stuff won't show up in a blood test & one still has it?.....GARY

Veterans receiving dental care may have been exposed to ...

Jun 29, 2010 ... (KMOV)-- More than 1800 veterans in the St. Louis area may have been exposed to potentially life threatening diseases at the John Cochran VA Hospital. ... The veterans administration is contacting veterans from Missouri ...

www.kmov.com/.../Veterans-receiving-dental-care-may-have-been-exposed-to-potentially-deadly-diseases-97431474.html - 2 hours ago

In the ER that I work at we conduct the post exposure testing in the following way. First blood draw done as soon as exposure identified, second done at 30 day mark, then again at 6 months and possibly 12 months. The reason for the repeat is due to the possibility that the disease incubation period varies with different strains of HIV. However, the chance of exposure to HIV is extremely low. In the healthcare field the bigger concern from a needle stick or other form of exposure is Hepatitis C. This is because the hepatitis virus is much more virilent, and can survive outside the body for several days. Where as the HIV virus dies very quickly outside the body. All in all, you should be OK, just get the blood tests for peace of mind and assurance.

Hope this helps,

Bergie

[Tbird]

wtf over, didn't they learn their lesson with the colonscopy incident. yesterday, i got a slip from the post office saying that i had a certified letter but i wasn't home to sign for it. i've been worrrying what terrible news that would bring. but now, i guess i know, you might have been exposed to hiv or hepc well ain't that just a lovely bunch of coconuts.

[retiredat44]

wtf over, didn't they learn their lesson with the colonscopy incident. yesterday, i got a slip from the post office saying that i had a certified letter but i wasn't home to sign for it. i've been worrrying what terrible news that would bring. but now, i guess i know, you might have been exposed to hiv or hepc well ain't that just a lovely bunch of coconuts.

I have had several HIV tests all negative, they kept losing the tests I had and had to do them over again..

they thoughts I was infected because I was so sick,, also since I have pancreatic disease, hepatitis is a real possiblity..

plus, and at one time they had put in my records I was HIV positive, but I was not and had t have them fix my resords..

but I have only gone through the San Diego facilities..

Edited June 30, 2010 by retiredat44

[Vync]

While in the military, I was assigned to a dental unit, but not in a dental role. They were super crazy about sanitation and even went so far as to make sure the non-dental personnel knew how to run an autoclave and sanitize instruments as a backup measure.

Also, here's another article I found on Fox News:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,595625,00.html

If this happened at St. Louis, what prevents this from happening at the other VAMC's?

[stillhere]

That is my concern right now? If it is going on in one dental office at the VA who's to say it is being done at others?? I think anyone that has had any work done with the dental office in a VA hospital should be checked.

[Commander Bob]

I have noticed on several occasions, The VA dentist assigned to me, would put on his gloves and then root around in his desk drawer, or contaminate his gloves in many ways. I got the impression that he was only protecting himself and not the vet in the chair. I don't go there anymore. Why am I not surprised by the St. Louis incident ?...