12,000 children may be exposed to HIV and Hepatitis from unsterile surgical equipment at hospital

Free bloods tests are offered to children previously admitted to the Seattle children Hospital

Seattle's Bellevue clinic Children's Hospital contacts the parents of 12,000 children who might have been exposed to HIV and hepatitis due to un-sterile surgical equipment.

MUNTINLUPA CITY, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - Parents of roughly 12,000 children who were treated at the Seattle Children's Hospital are being encouraged to bring their children for free blood tests. The hospital fears that these children may have been exposed to HIV and Hepatitis due to improperly cleaned and sterilized surgical equipment.

Hospital officials released a statement saying the patients who had surgical procedures at their Bellevue clinic require Hepatitis B and C tests as well as HIV. These blood tests will be done free-of-charge for the children. However, the hospital claims that the possibility of acquiring these diseases from the equipment is extremely low.

Hospital Chief Executive Officer Dr. Jeff Spering says, "We think the risk is incredibly low to families. But out of every bit of safety and an abundance of caution, we want to make sure we're notifying all of them of this potential."

As many as 12,000 children and young adults were treated in the clinic since 2010, all of whom are at risk of infection caused by the reusable, but improperly sterilized, surgical instruments.

The incident was discovered last week Thursday during a routine inspection at the hospital. The cause for such problems remain to be discovered and disclosed by the hospital.

"Our patients' safety is our top priority and we are very sorry that this happened," the hospital claimed. Hospital officials are still investigating and a complete report might be available before the weekend.

The hospital experienced a similar incident January of last year where they were forced to alert patients concerning improperly sterilized equipment. A total of 100 patients who had colonoscopies where informed that the equipment used on them might not have been sterilized. However, none of them contracted an infection.

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