EL PASO, TEXAS (AP) -- Army medical officials have spoken with nearly 300 patients at risk of developing blood-borne illnesses because of improper insulin injections at a West Texas hospital.
Officials at the Army's William Beaumont Army Medical Center announced that as many as 2,114 diabetes patients treated at the hospital since August 2007 could have been infected.
That's because of an improper procedure for injecting insulin.
Hospital officials say the problem stems from an insulin pen system designed to allow a patient to use the same pen several times.
The pens were inadvertently used multiple times on different patients.
Though a new sterile needle is used for every injection, health officials said blood could be transferred from the needle to the remaining insulin.
Army officials have insisted that that likelihood of infection is low.
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