Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
BBC News - Wednesday, 4 December, 2002
The Dorset and Somerset Health Authority said it had offered the tests to 125 patients who could have been at risk after being in contact with the worker.
The hospital is refusing to reveal the identity and workplace of the person involved.
Spokeswoman Pauline Malins said 90% of the patients written to had since contacted the authority and all those who had been tested for the virus had proved negative.
Identify patients
Ms Malins said: "The healthcare worker is no longer carrying out any treatment or procedure that may pose a risk to patients.
"This has entailed a thorough and rigorous review of relevant records to clearly identify those patients who potentially may have been exposed to risk, however slight that risk may be."
She said the action was taken on advice and guidance from the UK Advisory Board on HIV and Aids, and there was no known case of HIV infection being transmitted from a healthcare worker to a patient in the UK.
Ms Malins said this was the 22nd such alert in the UK, affecting approximately 8,000 patients.
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