At least five patients at a traditional Chinese medicine hospital in China were accidentally infected with HIV, officials said Thursday, as authorities moved to censor online discussion over the incident.
BEIJING: At least five patients at a traditional Chinese medicine hospital in China were accidentally infected with HIV, officials said Thursday (Feb 9), as authorities moved to censor online discussion over the incident.
A technician at the Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine re-used a tube employed in an earlier medical exam for an HIV-positive patient, the province’s health and family planning commission said in a statement on its official website, calling it a “severe violation of procedure”.
The local centre for disease control confirmed that five patients were infected, it added, without offering further information about the total number of patients the technician may have exposed to the virus.
The government body had been notified of the situation by the hospital on January 26. It did not explain why no statement was issued in the interim period, nor did it specify when the infections occurred.
