MIAMI -- Rep. Kendrick Meek toured the Veterans Affairs hospital in Miami on Friday morning to find out what is being done to help more than 3,000 veterans who might have been exposed to HIV and other diseases because of improperly sterilized equipment.

The VA Hospital warned patients who underwent colonoscopies between May 2004 and March 12, 2009, that they might have been exposed to diseases including HIV, hepatitis and others. Hospital officials said tubing on the endoscopic equipment was not properly sterilized between uses. The VA insisted the risk of infection was minimal and only involved tubing, not any device that actually made contact with a patient.

Hospital officials warned 3,260 patients that they should be tested for diseases. Since the announcement Monday, more than 900 South Florida veterans have undergone testing.

Meek visited the hospital on Friday to make sure that the VA is correcting its mistakes and that the veterans who might have been exposed to diseases are being properly treated.

“There’s been a dedicated clinic, Clinic 5 downstairs, to take on the cases of the 3,260 cases, to be processed,” Meek said. “That’s where the blood work is done. I encountered a number of veterans down there, maybe 10 or 12, that were in good spirits.”

“With the results it’s a little complicated. We originally told patients that it could be about two weeks. Congressman Meek has been … very helpful with suggesting to veterans about trying to turn that around sooner,” said VA Chief of Staff Dr. John Nara.

“This is a very unfortunate situation. I think there are fine people that work here every day. No one set out for this to take place at this particular time, but it’s here now, and we’re dealing with it,” Meek said.

In a call on Friday morning, the director of the Miami VA hospital declined to answer when Local 10’s Michael Putney asked how this could have gone on undetected for nearly five years.

More than 4,000 veterans have called a hot line set up by the VA hospital to express concerns about possible exposure and to get information about testing.

Anyone who underwent a procedure with an endoscope between May 2004 and March 12, 2009, can call the hot line at 1-877-575-7256.

Tenn., Ga. Patients Test Positive For Infections

Veterans Affairs officials reported that 16 patients exposed to contaminated equipment at its medical facilities have tested positive for viral infections, including hepatitis.

VA spokeswoman Katie Roberts said Friday that 10 colonoscopy patients from the VA medical center in Murfreesboro, Tenn., tested positive for hepatitis. She said six patients from the VA's ear, nose and throat clinic in Augusta, Ga., tested positive for unspecified viral infections.

The number of reported infections could rise. Roberts said the department doesn't yet have results from most of the more than 10,000 veterans it warned to get blood tests because they could have been exposed to contamination at those two facilities plus a medical center in Miami.

All three sites failed to properly sterilize equipment between treatments.