Victorian government defends six-month delay in HIV test notification

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Health department wrote to 399 people who may have been exposed to HIV six months after initially being made aware

HIV
A H9 T-cell (blue) infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (yellow). Photograph: AP/NIAID

The Victorian health minister has defended a six-month delay in informing almost 400 people they needed to be tested for HIV.

The health department sent letters to 399 residents of a Victorian town in early July, months after a healthcare worker notified authorities they had contracted HIV in January.

David Davis said on Thursday the process of tracking down all potentially exposed patients was “complex”.

He said the state’s chief health officer Dr Rosemary Lester gathered a panel of experts to deal with the matter, and the timing was consistent with similar incidents interstate.

“This is a complex process and obviously the chief health officer has made these steps very thoroughly,” Davis told ABC radio.

He said the testing was precautionary, and of 90 tests completed to date there were no cases of HIV transmission.