A faulty refrigerator in the emergency department at Wellington Hospital has compromised the effectiveness of tetanus boosters given to 16,000 patients over the past 10 years.
The hospital says it can't guarantee that the refrigerator was always within the right temperature range, as it's not sure it was checked, so it may be that patients who came for a tetanus injection got one that didn't work.
Dr Andrew Simpson of the Capital and Coast District Health Board says it's not known why the fridge was missed in regular audits. It's more likely to have been faulty only in the latter part of last year and earlier this year, he says, but there is no guarantee.
He says the board became aware of the problem in April but sought expert advice on the potential impact on patients before going public.
Low risk but board apologetic
Dr Simpson says it's impossible to identify each patient who may have received the booster during the past 10 years, so any recipient of a vaccine from that fridge should assume they do not have a current booster shot.
Patients don't need to take any immediate action, he says, because tetanus occurs within a few weeks of injury; if they get another contaminated or dirty wound, however, then they should get another tetanus shot.
Only two cases of tetanus have been reported in the Wellington region during the past 10 years, Dr Simpson says, and neither was attributable to an ineffective booster at Wellington Hospital's emergency department.
While the risk is low, he says, the board is taking it seriously and is very apologetic.
