Detection of hepatitis C virus in the nasal secretions "..this is the first study to demonstrate the presence of HCV in the nasal secretions.... While this finding does not confirm internasal viral transmission, it does lend virological support to previous indications that intranasal drug use poses a risk by confirming an important precondition for this route of infection. Additionally, detection of HCV in nasal secretions advances the debate regarding potential iatrogenic and nosocomial transmission of HCV in the context of ENT practices...."

  Calling all Military Veterans and family living with Hepatitis C

Alert
The VA is making Veterans prove for service connection, they received Jetgun injections during boot camp, especially Korean  war claims. HCVets has a collection of pictures from many different branches of service. Please add your pictures from camp year books. Email to HCVets@aol.com

We're also collecting pictures of any mass vaccinations with reused needles/vials and picture of medical/dental personal not wearing gloves to help those needing evidence.
View Boot Camp Pictures Submitted

The photographs will be used in a campaign to help make Hepatitis C a
PRESUMED SERVICE CONNECTED DISEASE
No more proving how you were infected!
 

  HCV Virus A Major Public Health Issue For Veterans Affairs July 2005-
Another concern that has been voiced by veterans is possible exposure from the use of jet injectors (air gun injectors) in immunization during training-concerns that came to public attention frequently in the late 1990s. While VA says that there has been no documented case of hepatitis C being transmitted by a jet gun injection, they admit it is biologically plausible. "In boot camps and basic training, apparently people stood in long lines to get inoculations and these jet injectors were used and people described bloody arms and it's easy to imagine that equipment that's misused could have become contaminated," Dr. Rigsby said.

  Hepatitis C virus linked to non-hodgkin's lymphoma Patients infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) are six times as likely to develop non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) than individuals that are virus free, according to research.......

  Hepatitis C Treatments and Your Eyes In conclusion, considering the high frequency of ophthalmologic damage and the risk of potentially severe symptomatic ocular lesions under IFN therapy, we recommend performing regular fundoscopic examinations in all patients, particularly during the first three months of treatment.

  Detection and Genotyping of Hepatitis C Virus RNA in Dried Blood Spots Stored at Room Temperature To test the suitability of DBS for HCV genotyping, a replicate set of DBS from the eight patients with known genotype, stored at room temperature for 11 months, was extracted as for RT-PCR and genotyped by using the Line Probe assay (Bayer Diagnostic Inc.). The genotype, determined in all tested DBS, was in agreement with that obtained on frozen serum samples.

  Hepatitis C /HIV Coinfection Management and Treatment of Hepatitis C Virus Infection in HIV-Infected Adults: Recommendations from the Veterans Affairs Hepatitis C Resource Center Program and National Hepatitis C Program Office

  2006 VA HEALTH, INCOME AND OTHER BENEFITS

  Preparing to treat a patient with hepatitis C, it is imperative to be exact and thorough when taking the patient history and performing a physical examination to minimize the potential for an autoimmune disorder

  HCV does not transmit by IV drug abuse easily, despite repeated exposure.
Viral evolution of hepatitis C in injection drug users. ...Thus, patients with ongoing or prior HCV infection appear to develop immunity that protects against further infection with HCV despite repeated exposure. PMID: 16255758 [PubMed - in process] 

   Breaches in safe-injection practices CDC recommendations. How many were not practiced on you?
...Fourteen patients reported breaches in safe-injection practices by the practitioner, including 1) failure to practice hand hygiene, 2) failure to prepare the skin with an antiseptic, 3) failure to wipe vials with alcohol before injection, and 4) failure to wear gloves. Of 11 patients who could recall, all reported use of a new needle; however, nine patients reported use of a multidose vial.

  HCV Found in Autopsy Brain Tissue-  Emerging evidence of hepatitis C virus neuroinvasion

 Prevalence of antibodies to Hepatitis C virus among Nigerian patients with HIV infection Fifth decade of life had the highest HCV infection

  Why interferon induction therapy has been a failure - Bennet D. Cecil, MD

  Hepatitis C Epidemiology in Military and Veteran Populations: Proceedings of the Second Biennial Conference, March 7, 1990 (1991) Institute of Medicine
Yellow Fever Vaccine-Associated Hepatitis Epidemic During World War II: Follow-up More Than 40 Years Later

  Do You Have Insulin Resistance?. Increase your odds at SVR (clearing the virus!)
Silvia Hinojosa-Price, RN, asks Zobair Younossi, M.D., M.P.H. Director, Center for Liver Diseases, Medical Director, Liver Transplant Program, questions related to insulin resistance in advanced liver disease, as well as lower response to antiviral therapy. 

  Approximate Time line for Hepatitis - 1936 - Theiler uses Pasteur's Process to pass Yellow Fever through Mice brains, rather than rabbits. (rearrangements in RNA genomes PMID: 7596811)

  American Society of Microbiology  June, 1999 Several Huge Lawsuits Pending Over Tainted Blood in Canada One available source of such plasma was Health Management Associates (HMA), a private company which ceased operations in 1994. ...acquired blood plasma from prisoners, .... had been officially terminated in 1971 in Canada-- and in 1982 in the United States ....NOT SO … prison plasma pumped through 1994 in BOTH Arkansas and Louisiana under Liddy Dole's "revamped" blood system].

Nonetheless, prisoners at the Department of Corrections unit in Grady, Ark., some of whom had symptoms ... were still permitted to donate plasma. "Unbelievably, the [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] allowed the high-risk plasma to be exported to Canada .....

  Krever Commission Report On November 26, 1997, Health Minister Allan Rock, on behalf of the federal government, released the final report of the Commission of Inquiry on the Blood System in Canada (Krever Commission).

  The Global Infectious Disease Threat and Its Implications for the United States
Some of the hardest hit countries in Sub-Saharan Africa--and possibly later in South and Southeast Asia--will face a demographic upheaval as HIV/AIDS and associated diseases reduce human life expectancy by as much as 30 years and kill as many as a quarter of their populations over a decade or less, producing a huge orphan cohort.

C& P exams- Vets- make sure the physician performing your Compensation and Pension exam has your medical records. We have Reports these exams are not required to have current records and in some cases don't request them. Read more here

House bill addresses PTSD- The bill follows a report last month in Knight Ridder Newspapers showing that the assessment - known as a "rating" - that veterans receive for post-traumatic stress disorder is far higher in some regional offices than in others.

Devastating consequences of PTSD Among combat veterans the significance of this extends to a decrease in alcoholism and illicit drug abuse; a decrease in domestic instability with an improved ability to maintain both marital and social relationships; greater work productivity with a lessened dependency on government support; and a decrease in future utilization of medical services (especially for psychiatric issues).

February 28, 2005   
Plan Backfires- VBA Fast Letter Boost Claims The letter works to the Veterans advantage because it acknowledges possible ways for transmitting the virus previously denied by the VA claims adjusters. Claims that are pending or previously denied, should consider this as critical evidence to include.

Hepatitis C - A Medical & Psychiatric Disorder- Recommendation- It is critical for physicians and counselors to quickly recognize the pre-existing depression, or depression caused by Hepatitis C or the side effects of HCV pharmacologic therapy! They must be treated with supportive therapy, modification of doses of interferon and psychiatric medications. Failure to do so may result in limitation of therapy, noncompliance with therapy and serious personal, interpersonal and mental health consequences

How infectious are dead bodies? The human body is host to many organisms, only some of which are pathogenic. When the body dies, the environment in which pathogens live can no longer sustain them. However, this does not happen immediately, and transmission of infectious agents from a cadaver to a living person may occur.

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Service Connection for Hep C as a sexually transmitted disease
"Quote" from Claim
"While the veteran thus does not currently suffer from a venereal disease, it appears that there is clearly intent on the part of Congress and VA to remove from the definition of willful misconduct diseases which are the residuals of sexual contact. It would thus appear to be contrary to the spirit, if not the letter, of the law to allow service connection for syphilis but deny service connection for Hepatitis C when it has been demonstrated that the latter has been incurred as a result of sexual contact. The Board therefore concludes that in this case the veteran's Hepatitis C may be likened to venereal disease and therefore falls outside of the statutory misconduct prohibition."

Citation Nr: 0300489    Decision Date: 01/09/03

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  Add to your claim- admission by the Air Force the jet guns were bloody
click here Vaccines in the Military  Department of Defense- Wide review of Vaccine Policies and Procedures Read excerpt- Page 60 in particular says, "Of note is that the AFEB  made a site visit to the MTF at Parris Island and directly observed high volume recruit immunization using jet injectors.  It was noted that jet injector nozzles were frequently contaminated with blood, yet sterilization practices were frequently inadequate or not followed." View complete report at http://www.ha.osd.mil/afeb/reports/vaccines.pdf

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[Code of Federal Regulations] [Title 38, Volume 1] [Revised as of July 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 38CFR3.309] [Page 238-242]
            TITLE 38--PENSIONS, BONUSES, AND VETERANS' RELIEF
                CHAPTER I--DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
PART 3--ADJUDICATION--Table of Contents
     Subpart A--Pension, Compensation, and Dependency and Indemnity
                              Compensation
Sec. 3.309  Disease subject to presumptive service connection

Thanks AL:) In combination with documented transmission of hepatitis C by many methods during service, makes Hepatitis C a presumptive service connection. Read More

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  Evidence of jetgun contamination  

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  Multiply Injection Inculcator Instruments Manufacture patents for the Pet-o-Jet gun injector used in military settings.

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This reads as a tacit admission of knowing problems with jet injectors existed. 
This is dated NOVEMBER 1998
http://www-nehc.med.navy.mil/prevmed/epi/BUMED25NOV98.txt
(((Thanks Roger))))

---

Screening for Hepatitis C Virus Infection
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
www.ahrq.gov

Chapter 3. Results
  Does screening for hepatitis C reduce the risk or rate of harm and premature death and disability?  We identified no randomized trials or observational studies comparing outcomes between patients in the general adult population or high-risk subpopulations screened and not screened for hepatitis C.  Although blood donors are routinely screened for HCV infection in order to insure the safety of transfused blood products, we also searched for studies demonstrating improvement in clinical outcomes in volunteer blood donors screened versus those not screened, and found none.

  TRANSMISSION OF HEPATITIS C VIRUS FROM A PATIENT TO AN ANESTHESIOLOGY ASSISTANT TO FIVE PATIENTS Note: The following studies documents virus transmission from a patient to an anesthesiologists to a other patients without identifiable breaks in universal precautions.  All avenues of transmission that the medical profession are aware of, did NOT apply. They do not know how the HCV virus was transmitted. Resent development in testing has provided proof they are the exact same source infection.

  11th Annual Retrocirus Conference (CROI-Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections) San Francisco Feb 8-11, 2004 Reported by Jules Levin - PegIntron Plus Ribaivin in HCV/HIV Coinfection: French RIBAVIC Study ACTG 5071: Pegasys plus Ribavirin vs IFN/RBV in HCV/HIV Coinfection - (02/19/04)

April 5, 1948 letter from C.J. Watson, M.D., Army Epidemiological Board to Dr. McLeod, with a copy to Dr. Stokes and others.......the matter of using volunteers in penal institutions for experimentation, with particular reference to hepatitis.

  The Connection Between Hepatitis C and Autoimmune Disorders Infection with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) can lead to autoimmune hepatitis in a minority of patients. This means that the liver cells are damaged not only by the virus but also by the body's own immune system.

  Nine times more likely- Tattoos have many health risks as well. According to a CNN report, people with tattoos are nine times more likely to carry the hepatitis C infection. The general population has an infection rate of 3.5 percent versus a 33 percent infection rate for those with tattoos, states a March 2001 journal article in Medicine.

SIDE EFFECTS OF PAIN MEDICATIONS
The intended effect of pain medications is obvious, to relieve pain.  However, desired effects are sometimes accompanied by side effects that may be bothersome or even problematic themselves, and may involve various organ systems.

  Live donor liver transplantation (LDLT) is a procedure in which a living person donates a portion of his or her liver to another. The feasibility of LDLT was first demonstrated in the United States in 1989. The recipient was a child, who received a segment of his mother's liver. Since that time, LDLT for children has enjoyed wide success and many pediatric programs use this technique.

   Anti-HCV antibodies are detectable in gingival crevicular fluid from HCV positive subjects. Results of the present study confirmed the very high sensitivity and specificity (100%) of the test when applied on whole blood, while no efficacy has been showed to reveal anti-HCV antibodies in any sample of whole saliva. As far as gingival crevicular fluid is concerned, anti-HCV antibodies were detected in 12 out of 15 samples from HCV positive subjects (80%) suggesting that HCV virus in the same way of anti-HCV antibodies may enter the mouth through the gingival crevicular fluid and then spread outside the mouth via saliva.

  Nosocomial transmission of bloodborne viruses from infected health care workers to patients 1991 CDC published recommendations for preventing HIV and HBV transmission to patients, which included the recommendation that HCWs who are infected with HIV or HBV (and HBeAg positive, a marker of higher infectivity) should not perform exposure-prone procedures unless they have sought counsel from an expert review panel (5). In 1998, Health Canada published guidelines for the management of HCWs infected with HBV, HCV, and/or HIV (6). Both these documents generated controversy at the time of their publication. Since that time, however, several provincial regulatory bodies have formed committees to advise physicians infected with these bloodborne pathogens (BBPs) regarding their practice. This article reviews what we know about the transmission of HBV, HCV and HIV from infected HCWs to patients in medical and dental settings.

• More
  Clinical Microbiology Reviews, July 2000, p. 385-407, Vol. 13, No. 3
  0893-8512/00/$04.00+0 
  Risk and Management of Blood-Borne Infections in Health Care Workers

Transmission of Hepatitis B and C Viruses in Outpatient Settings

Transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) can occur in health-care settings from percutaneous or mucosal exposures to blood or other body fluids from an infected patient or health-care worker. This report summarizes the investigation of four outbreaks of HBV and HCV infections that occurred in outpatient health-care settings. The investigation of each outbreak suggested that unsafe injection practices, primarily reuse of syringes and needles or contamination of multiple-dose medication vials, led to patient-to-patient transmission. To prevent transmission of bloodborne pathogens, all health-care workers should adhere to recommended standard precautions and fundamental infection-control principles, including safe injection practices and appropriate aseptic techniques.

Universal precautions, now called standard precautions, were implemented in 1996

 Fibromyalgia and HCV Biopsies of Chronic Inflammatory Muscle Disease Show Enterovirus RNA

  Specific Extrahepatic Disorders Tied To Hepatitis C In Large Study

Irritable Bowel Syndrome: From Epidemiology to Treatment

  Hepatitis C Virus Can Damage the Central Nerve System Researchers from the Evanovsky Institute of Virology, Russian Science Academy, found that not only did hepatitis C virus damage the liver and blood, but that it could also infect neurons and destroy the central nerve system.....
Studying the physiology of hepatitis C virus, scientists from the Evanovsky Institute found that viruses similar to the hepatitis C virus could survive and replicate in the neuron cell. They therefore, they started to focus their study on the neuron cells.....
 New VA Study VA HCV treatment and outcomes 2004
Results: Differences in treatment practice and use of diagnostic procedures were found. Genotype testing was under-utilized in non-academic sites (academic centres, 79.2%; private centres, 33.7%; Veterans' Affairs centres, 35.9%; P < 0.001). Liver biopsies were performed less often in private sites (academic centres, 95.8%; private centres, 80.0%; Veterans' Affairs centres, 92.2%; P < 0.01). End-of-treatment viral response (academic centres, 40.0%; private centres, 31.3%; Veterans' Affairs centres, 17.2%; P < 0.05) was lower than that found in published trial data. Multivariate analysis revealed genotype 1 as the single significant predictor of treatment failure (P < 0.01).

Update- DIABETES and HCV

  Presidential Candidacy Questionnaire  As a candidate for the 2004 Presidential election, we are asking you to respond to 10 questions concerning the Hepatitis C epidemic.  Please make your answers brief and to the point.

  Sufficient Evidence of an Association
The following excerpt is from the new website set up by the Secretary for the Veterans Administration (VA), Anthony Principi, and the Institute of Medicine (IOM). It's the explanation for the categories of evidence including the "sufficient evidence for an association" for exposure.  

The VA & IOM choose not to list Hepatitis C as a causality of the Vietnam war despite the astronomical numbers of veterans infected. Disregarding all the other scientific, unbiased studies, these numbers of infected veterans, in itself, meets the criteria for "Sufficient Evidence of an Association" so stated below.  
 

Explanation of the Categories of Evidence

Sufficient Evidence of an Association

Evidence is sufficient to conclude that there is a positive association. That is, a positive association has been observed between herbicides and the outcome in studies in which chance, bias, and confounding could be ruled out with reasonable confidence. For example, if several small studies that are free from bias and confounding show an association that is consistent in magnitude and direction, there may be sufficient evidence of an association.

 Let Anthony Principi, and the Institute of Medicine know Hepatitis C should be listed too!!

Contact the Institute of Medicine, 500 Fifth Street NW, Washington, DC 20001
iomwww@nas.edu
Tel. 202.334.2352
Fax. 202.334.1412

Sec for the Veterans Administration
Anthony.Principi@mail.va.gov

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever does."
-Margaret Mead
 

WHO accused of huge HIV blunder
The WHO's own figures, based on observations in hospitals and clinics, suggest that up to 75 per cent of injections in parts of south-east Asia are carried out using unsterilised equipment, compared with just 20 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa.

Jury sides with hepatitis C victim The case bolsters a study done 10 years ago by researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas that found most hepatitis C cases in Texas — 30 percent — were transmitted through commercial tattooing........The inspector also observed three tattoo artists providing services for three hours, but none washed his or her hands between tattoo applications on separate clients, the investigator's report said.

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS CLEVELAND REGIONAL OFFICE Tiger Team Remand

OUTSTANDING NEWS:)  Keep the faith and, if you have not done so, file NOW!!!!  TELL THE WORLD- 

A rating decision dated Aug 5, 2003 from the Tiger Team of the Cleveland, Ohio Regional Office awarded a Vietnam Veteran service connected disability for Hep C as a direct result of the "JET INJECTOR".  The claim was on remand from the BVA and resulted in an award amount of 10%.

Decision on recent Service Connection Claim based solely on the Jet Guns.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1975
Federal regulations violated Contamination problems danger of infection reported at Connaught- Among the most serious were the "grossly inadequate" quarters for control testing of Sabin polio vaccine......

"As a result, occasionally control testing of more than one type of live vaccine is being done at the same time. No proper separation of tissue cultures was seen, giving rise to danger of cross-contamination.
 

Important- Information to add to or include, when you file or appeal your HCV claim for service connection and the jet gun injections.
 

Kansas City Star Hepatitis C Series  most informative, accurate and comprehensive picture ever portrayed in the USA about the hepatitis c epidemic.
 

Bacterial Spores Survive Treatment with Commercial Sterilants and Disinfectants
The spore survival results shown in Fig. 1 and 2 and Table 1 confirm that general disinfectants (not specifically labeled for liquid sterilization, like Cavicide, Clorox, and Lysol) do not kill spores on contaminated devices and, thus, should never be employed in this capacity.
 

Soldier contracts Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease  (the human form of Mad Cow Disease)-was it From the fetal calf serum used in vaccines?
 

June 2003 excerpts  from  Federal Laboratory Community online paper
"The challenge was to solve the pathogen transfer problem while retaining the advantages of the needle-free injector system. The technology transfer of a Russian-designed protector cap was the missing link needed to improve the safety found in this needle-free injector system. This protector cap provides three separate challenges to any pathogen transfer between patients. Each cap is packaged in a sterile container and exposed only immediately before injection. The cap is then disposed of after each use in a biohazard bag." PDF file http://www.federallabs.org/ContentObjects/News/NewsLink/NewsLinkJune2003.pdf
 

 Example of The Nexus Letters- the "more than likely than not" letters needed to prove service connection.
 

On a Political Note: The Hepatitis C Epidemic - Why has the hepatitis C epidemic affected Military Veterans more than civilians? 
 

Jet guns & Concurrent Receipt Agreement- final concurrent receipt agreement with Senate leaders and the White House. What this means to retired non combat HCV infected veterans.
 

Liver Biopsy Step by Step
 

More on Genotypes and Quasispecies - How to tell is infections are from the same source of infection.
 

Jet Gun Injection updates
Fluid mechanics analysis of a spring-loaded jet injector.
IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 1999 Feb;46(2):235-42.
PMID: 9932345; UI: 99131137.

PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF HEPATITIS B IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE AND THE NEWLY INDEPENDENT STATES
6-9 October 1996

Report of a meeting organized by the Viral Hepatitis Prevention Board, the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
...."use of jet gun injectors with a design fault that allowed blood to remain inside the equipment."

Safety Testing of Needle Free, Jet Injection Devices to Detect Contamination with Blood and Other Tissue Fluids
JAMES M. SWEAT^a,b, et.al
"Five different procedures were used to administer injections to calves and pigs: (1) following compliance protocol (device nozzle is swabbed with alcohol between vaccinates)",.............."It was interesting to note that the amount of backsplash resulting from injection using a disposable plastic nozzle was slightly less than that from the metal  type"......^"If albumin is detected in test samples (at more than 10 pL/mL), the conclusion is that the device is responsible for transmitting volumes of blood sufficient to contain pathogenic agents.^"

Risk and Management of Blood-Borne Infections in Health Care Workers
Elise M. Beltrami,^1,* Ian T. Williams,² Craig N. Shapiro,² and Mary E. Chamberland¹
HIV Infections Branch, Hospital Infections Program,¹ and Hepatitis Branch, Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases,² National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Atlanta, Georgia

The risk that an HCV-infected individual will transmit the virus may be related to the type and size of the inoculum and the route of transmission as well as the titer of virus, but data on the threshold concentration of virus needed to transmit infection are insufficient. Neither the presence of antibody nor the presence of HCV RNA is a direct measure of infectivity.


New Links

Medical Tests Defined- Comprehensive database of medical test your doctor may order.

Firebase Adrian the Radio Show
The Firebase Network's Veterans Hour
hosted by Rick Townsend,
Saturday 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM Eastern Time
on Genesis Communication Network. ... 

Click on the Picture
Welcome to my "Vietnam Picture Tour!" I'm Specialist fourth Class, Gary Jacobson, a combat infantryman with B co, 2nd of the 7th, First Air Cavalry in Vietnam...we call ourselves Grunts.
 

Hepatitis C (HCV) = four times higher rate of infection than HIV in Sub Saharan Africa.  http://www.who.int/docstore/bulletin/pdf/issue10/kane.pdf
<<< Something is very wrong >>>
How did Sub Saharan Africa get so infected with HCV, since Governments blame the HIV on sex???

We know how, jet gun injections:)

Click on Picture to enlarge

Saliva may have infectious amounts of HCV in presence of high HCV viral load and gum disease “This study suggests that the saliva of individuals infected with hepatitis C may be infectious,” conclude the investigators, adding that “microscopic amounts of blood in the saliva due to gum disease may be responsible. People with HCV are cautioned not to share toothbrushes with other people in their household."
 

TECTONIC CHANGES IN DISABILITY LAW
By Joshua Potter, Esq., Pasadena, CA

There have been tectonic changes in the disability environment. By this, I mean that since the publication of the 1990 fibromyalgia syndrome criteria by the American College of Rheumatology, and the 1994 statement for chronic fatigue syndrome by Dr. Fakuda and others at the Center for Disease Control (CDC), little has changed in the disability landscape. There have been judicial skirmishes, insurance refinements, but the largest impact has been in the area of policy interpretation.
 

The smallpox vaccine is made from a live virus related to smallpox called vaccinia VIG is a human immune globulin made from blood plasma of people who have gotten the smallpox vaccine more than once (usually many times).

A Decade of Needlestick Prevention Lancets are considered a high-risk source of pathogen transmission due to the direct contact with blood once the device is used....

Remember the lancets used to poke fingers for blood samples and the  techs reused the lancets and did not where gloves? They'd stick troops then  use the little pipettes to get the blood and on to the next one with the same lancet. 
 

Military admits - Problem with the Jet gun 
It is with deep regret we announce today out of thousands of replies to our question, "if the technicians wiped the airguns off before they injected you, please respond to us," 
None of the  reply's confirmed the jet guns were wiped off before, during or after the use on the troops.

It appears, despite the numerous meetings held by the Epidemiological Board in March 1988, the boards recommendation that jet injector guns be used only with authorized military technical parts and the instruments must be sterilized according to standard procedures, were not carried out, as the manufactures for all guns call for the guns to be wiped after each use.

Please read selected comments from the overwhelming response we received from this report.
 

THE SMALLPOX VACCINE
The smallpox vaccine is not given with a hypodermic needle. It is not a "shot," like many vaccinations. The vaccine is given using a bifurcated (two-pronged) needle that is dipped into the vaccine solution. When removed, the needle retains a droplet of the vaccine. The needle is then used to quickly prick the skin 15 times in a few seconds. The pricking is not deep, but it will cause a sore spot and one or two drops of blood to form. The vaccine usually is given in the upper arm.
 

Update Military's Hepatitis C Risk Low, But DoD Still Concerned (corrected copy)  
 

Jet Guns were always cleaned between injections of the Military troops!
Quote: It = jet gun injectors
    MR. HARRINGTON:  Not necessarily.  It was used by the Army for 35 years and it was always wiped.  Never had an issue.  Good tracking system.  And there's nothing recorded in the world that says that it wasn't wiped.  It's in a study that was presented using a method that isn't approved, it was not wiped and it said oh, we can contaminate 31 out of 100...

....What I'm saying to you is we believe that there are situations--the U.S. military for 35 years used the product appropriately.  There was never an indicated transmission of hepatitis.  Certainly they follow cases of hepatitis in the U.S. military.

UPDATE
THE ARMED FORCES EPIDEMIOLOGICAL BOARD  PART III
 

Military's Hepatitis C Risk Low, But DoD Still Concerned (corrected copy)