Being back on US soil doesn't mean these Missouri veterans are safe.

John Cochran VA Medical Center in St. Louis recently notified over 1,800 veterans that they may have been exposed to hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV after visiting the medical center for dental work, said Rep. Russ Carnahan.

The association chief of staff at the hospital, Dr. Gina Michael, says some dental technicians broke protocol by hand washing dental tools before putting them into cleaning machines. The hand washing began back in February 2009 and may have caused the tools to become contaminated.

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Monday, May 03, 2010

Research has debunked the belief that hepatitis C virus slows down immune system’s ability to restore itself after HIV patients are treated with combination drugs known as the ‘cocktail’.

Hepatitis C infection is more serious in HIV-infected people, leading to rapid liver damage, according to the Centre for Disease Control.

Intravenous drug use is a main method of contraction for both HIV and hepatitis C. Besides, 50 to 90 percent of HIV-infected drug users are also infected with hepatitis C.

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