Some Cdn Health Clinics Caught Reusing Syringes

[On tha low Brotha]

Alberta calls other Canadian medical officers of health over reused syringes

EDMONTON - Concerns over the potential reuse of syringes spread across the country Friday as Alberta offered to help other provinces, while the federal government said it was convening a working group on the issue.

Shannon Montgomery, THE CANADIAN PRESS

Alberta's acting chief medical health officer, Dr. Gerry Predy, organized a conference call between provincial health officers, saying they could learn from the province's experience if they find the practice in their regions.

Late Friday, a second health region in Saskatchewan was found to be reusing syringes. One day after it was revealed syringes were being reused at a hospital in Lloydminster, a city that straddles the boundary with Alberta, the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region said a mental health program had also been reusing the syringes.

Up to 2,700 patients in Alberta are being tested for hepatitis and HIV after syringes were reused at a health clinic in High Prairie, 260 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.

Predy said a doctor that practised at the Lloydminster hospital, as well as in Vermilion, Alta., came forward after he saw a notice that the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta sent out after the High Prairie discovery.

In all cases so far, the needle and syringe were used to inject medication into an intravenous bag, not directly into the patients' bodies.

A fresh syringe is supposed to be used each time to avoid any blood-borne diseases from one patient possibly being transferred into the blood of another.

Predy couldn't rule out whether more patients would be affected from other areas of the province.

"We're still in the process of looking at all the data, our medical officers of health are doing that work now across the province, so we don't have all that information at this point."

A federal public health spokeswoman said in an email that government experts "are in contact with provincial and territorial chief medical officers of health to help resolve this regrettable situation."

"To assist provinces and territories in assessing the risk associated with these practices, (the agency) will be assembling a national risk assessment working group," said Jacinthe Perras. She could not give details on the group.

Saskatchewan health officials said there is no plan to test people from the Lloydminster hospital because the risk of infection is extremely low.

Dr. Moira McKinnon, Saskatchewan's chief medical officer, said the syringes in question didn't penetrate any patients' skin and there was only a "theoretical risk that there can be some backflow of that blood."

But Predy said a decision on whether to test Albertans who may have been treated by the doctor in Lloydminster and Vermilion will be made after a risk assessment is complete.

Since 2001, the Center for Disease Control in the United States has identified several hepatitis C outbreaks associated with syringe reuse. It was a common practice in the 1990s to reuse syringes but was phased out when the outbreaks started.

The guidelines over single-use syringes were first published in 1997, said Perras, and the federal government sent reminders to health-care centres provincial health departments in 2004-05.

In British Columbia, deputy provincial health officer Dr. Eric Young said Friday the province is now writing guidelines for health professionals on how to use single-use syringes.

The guidelines on following standard infection control practices will be sent to B.C.'s College of Physicians and Surgeons, the College of Registered Nurses of B.C., and the B.C. Medical Association.

The B.C. government sent a similar directive to health authorities in June 2007 as part of a national review around the use of single-use medical devices.

A patient safety group said the provinces need to work together to find out what happened and to determine the fallout.

"Obviously it probably now is on the radar of every province to take a look at and ask their hospitals and/or clinics how they are addressing this matter," said Philip Hassen, chief executive of the Canadian Patient Safety Institute.