Reuse of medical instruments

A case has been reported in Australia of the sequential infection of four patients on the same day at an outpatient clinic where each received minor surgery. The first patient is believed to have been an HIV-positive man with a low CD4 count; four subsequent patients on that day were all discovered to be HIV-positive, although it still has not been established that they are all infected with the same strain of HIV. The cases are believed to have occurred as a consequence of a failure of infection control . The doctor reused scalpel handles and disinfected rather than sterilised equipment.1

References

  1. Chant K Patient–to–patient transmission of HIV. Lancet 342: 1548, 1993