Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia, Inc. - Wednesday October 29 4:54 PM EST
They said many residents lined up for recommended hepatitis B shots on Wednesday after the scare.
The shots are being given as a precaution because the town's health director, who resigned Monday, did not change the syringe between flu shots he gave to some 468 people earlier this month.
Instead, the doctor changed only the needle between each shot, health officials said.
But they emphasized that the chance of exposure to a blood-borne disease was remote.
"The problem was with the way the flu vaccine was given to the people," Dr. Richard Melchreit of the state health department told Reuters.
"Normally what happens is that a new syringe and a new needle are used fresh on each patient. In this situation... the needle was changed between patients like it was supposed to be, but the syringe was not. It was reused."
Melchreit said he did not know why the doctor failed to change syringes between shots.
"It raises the question, could a little bit of blood possibly have gotten back up into that syringe? If that was the case, you could have a passage of blood-borne disease from person to person," Melchreit said.
"But it's a very, very, very, low risk, we believe. It's not zero, though, so that's why we are recommending that people who were at the clinic get a hepatitis B vaccine."
Melchreit said hepatitis B was far more likely to be passed by a contaminated syringe than HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
"But (people) are concerned, because they know that these are serious infections," Melchreit said.
Health officials said hepatitis B is considered a more robust or easily transmitted virus than HIV. In addition, the population that received the flu shots -- including senior citizens, town and school system employees, and retired Roman Catholic nuns -- is an extremely low-risk group for HIV.
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