Hospital Worker Gets AIDS Virus as Result of Syringe Accident

A hospital worker has been infected with the AIDS virus through a syringe needle that accidentally stuck her while she was taking a blood sample from an AIDS patient in July, officials reported.

The employee of Mercy Hospital was wearing a protective gown and gloves when she was accidentally injected with a small quantity of blood, Mercy Hospital said in a statement Tuesday.

“At the time of the incident, the employee was taking appropriate precautions for protection against AIDS,” officials said.

The employee, who was not identified, worked full-time at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center and was moonlighting at Mercy Hospital when the accident occurred.

The employee is on disability leave from Mercy and on a medical leave of absence from Kaiser, hospital officials said.

Ben Skonieczny, a Kaiser spokesman, said hospital workers are vulnerable to such accidents “unless you’re wearing a suit of armor or plastic gloves.”

“As tragic as it may be, it reinforces the fact for all hospital health care workers that recommended procedures aren’t just made up. Health care workers everywhere are literally putting their lives on the line.”

Kassy Edgington, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health Services, said the Sacramento case is one of three reported in California involving hospital workers.

A similar incident involving an infected hospital worker in Stanislaus County is also being studied, she said, and a report already has been confirmed that a San Francisco General Hospital employee was infected early this month in a needle accident.

The Sacramento incident is one of about 13 reported AIDS virus infections among health care workers nationally, said Charles Fallis, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.