印度某医院消毒不到位,上千患者可能感染艾滋病毒、肝炎

A sterilization technician at a northern Indiana hospital failed to properly disinfect surgical tools, possibly affecting more than 1,000 patients who underwent surgery at the facility in recent months, the hospital said this week.

印第安纳州北部一家医院本周表示，该院的一名消毒技术员未能正确消毒手术工具，可能影响了近几个月在该医院接受手术的1000多名患者。

In a recent letter to patients, officials with Goshen Hospital in Goshen, Ind., said that “one step in a multi-step cleaning process was not completed with certain surgical instruments in a limited number of cases,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by Fox 42. This means the patients may have been exposed to diseases such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV, hospital officials said.

据Fox 42获得的信件副本显示，在最近写给病人的一封信中，印第安纳州Goshen医院的管理人员表示，“在有限的病例中，某些手术器械在多步骤清洁过程中的一个步骤没有完成”。医院官员表示，这意味着患者可能接触过乙肝、丙肝和艾滋病等疾病。

“The surgical instruments in question were still treated with our usual chemical disinfection and machine sterilization processes which include a wide margin of safety; however, such instruments may or may not have been completely sterile,” the letter continues.

“有关的手术器械仍然采用我们通常的化学消毒和机器消毒程序，其中包括很大的安全范围;然而，这些仪器可能是也可能不是完全无菌的。

Patients who underwent surgery at Goshen Hospital between April 1 and September 30 may have been exposed, though the hospital noted the risk of infection is low. The situation was remedied “immediately” after officials became aware.

在4月1日至9月30日期间在Goshen医院接受手术的患者可能已经接触了病毒，尽管医院指出感染的风险很低。在官员们意识到这一点后，情况“立即”得到了改善。

Free testing is now being offered to the 1,182 patients who were possibly exposed to the diseases, per the letter.

根据信中所说，现在已经向1182名可能接触到这些疾病的患者提供免费检测。

“As with any patient safety concern, we rigorously investigated all aspects around the incident,” said Daniel Nafziger, hospital chief medical officer, in a statement. “We have put strict policies and additional safety measures in place to ensure it does not happen again. We also want to express our concern for each of these patients.”

医院首席医疗官丹尼尔·纳夫齐格(Daniel Nafziger)在一份声明中表示，“与任何涉及患者安全的问题一样，我们严格调查了事件的各个方面。”“我们已经制定了严格的政策和额外的安全措施，以确保此类事件不会再次发生。我们也想表达我们对每一位病人的关心。”