KALAMAZOO, MI -- Family Health Center is encouraging some patients to get tested for hepatitis and HIV after learning dental equipment wasn’t sterilized properly.

Patients who may have been treated with the improperly sterilized items were notified and offered free lab testing, according to a statement from Family Health Center.

According to the statement, a procedural step was missed in sterilizing a “small number” of dental instruments.

A representative for center said the exposure happened “recently,” but did not give a specific time frame. Affected patients would have been treated at the Family Health Center location at 505 East Alcott St.

The health center’s sterilization protocols have been updated, the statement said.

The Kalamazoo County Department of Health and Human Services

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