Ohio Veterans Administration Continues to Investigate Dental Infection Control Lapses

Well, it has been about a year since the flap began.

And, the investigation continues - asking the question: Did three veterans who tested positive for hepatitis contract the disease during visits to the hospital’s dental clinic?

One year after the Dayton VA Medical Center publicly disclosed infection control lapses that risked the health of hundreds if not thousands of veterans, hospital officials soon expect the answer to a key question: Did three veterans who tested positive for hepatitis contract the disease during visits to the hospital’s dental clinic?

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has turned to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for help in answering that question. While an internal VA investigation has not identified a link between the three positive cases and the care they received at the dental clinic, a team with the CDC’s viral hepatitis branch for several months has been conducting a more in-depth analysis, called “ultra-deep sequencing.”

That genotype sequencing should show whether the specific hepatitis strains found in the veterans are identical or very similar to those found in other veterans seen previously in the clinic who  contracted the disease elsewhere. A match would seemingly prove that poor infection control practices in the dental clinic was res-ponsible for the spread of one patient’s hepatitis infection to another patient.

The analysis is nearly complete, and VA officials expect results “within the next several weeks.”

“They say they’re close to getting us an answer,” said Glenn Costie, who in December became director of the Dayton VA.

The Dayton VA on Feb. 8, 2011, confirmed the infection control lapses and offered testing to 535 veterans it said could be at risk for hepatitis or HIV. Those patients had been seen by Dr. Dwight Pemberton, now 82, who allegedly failed to change latex gloves and sterilize dental instruments between patients for several years until whistle-blowers reported the alleged problems to outside VA officials in July 2010.

Pemberton, who retired just
days after the VA publicly acknowledged potential infections, has vehemently denied the allegations.

Here is the report of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of the Inspector General (Pdf) from April 25, 2011.

Stay tuned.....

Calls for more testing at Dayton VA: wdtn.com