135 US Air Force members may have contracted HIV at Qatar clinic

The U.S. Air Force announced Monday that as many as 135 people may have been exposed to HIV and hepatitis B and C over eight years at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, where an estimated 11,000 U.S. troops are stationed.

From 2008 to 2016, the base’s medical center cleaned some of its equipment in “a manner inconsistent with sterilization guidelines,” the Air Force surgeon general told the Air Force Times. People exposed to those tools may have contracted HIV or two types of hepatitis, the Air Force surgeon general said. The Air Force is notifying people it believes may have contracted an illness.