HIV-tainted blood stolen from Vancouver hospital
A medical spokesperson is downplaying the risk to the public after 19 vials of HIV-infected blood were stolen from the locked freezer of a downtown Vancouver hospital.
The blood samples were being stored in a locked freezer on the sixth floor of the virology lab when they were stolen sometime between Saturday and Monday morning.
Dr. Akber Mithani, vice president of medical affairs at St. Paul's Hospital, sought to reassure the public that the only way to infect someone is to introduce it into the blood stream.
"As long as the vials are sealed, they pose no danger to the public," Mithani said, appearing on CTV Newsnet.
"It's not like an airborne disease so that if you're standing next to it or if you handle the vial, which is sealed, that you're actually going to get the HIV," Mithani said.
While HIV-infected blood can remain infection 72 hours after the vials thaw, Mithani said the virus' strength dissipates as time passes.
"By 72 hours, really there is no risk with respect to the public," he said.
The samples, which were awaiting testing, are labelled with the patients' names, identification number and the letters "HIV VL."
St. Paul's Hospital spokesperson Shaheen Shivji said this was the first time HIV-positive blood had been stolen from the hospital.
"We've not had such a break-in in any of the freezers before. They are locked and the area is part of the regular security personnel patrols," Shivji told CTV Vancouver on Tuesday.
She said the hospital's security video tapes would be checked and security measures were being stepped up.
"If people do come across a vial and they suspect it could be a vial that was stolen, we ask them to call police right away," Shivji said.
Mithani doesn't understand why someone would steal the vials.
"It is strange. We haven't had any incidents like this one ever before in St. Paul's," Mithani told The Canadian Press.
"We could come up with all kinds of theories around it but it would all just be speculation," he said. "I have no idea why somebody would want this."
Mithani said putting a person's name on the test vial is required by regulation.
Each patient is being contacted to let them know what has happened.
But Paul Lewand, of the B.C. Persons with AIDS Society, is troubled by the breach of patient confidentiality and said his group will be speaking to the hospital.
St. Paul's is home to the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.
