HIGH PRAIRIE, Alta. - Health officials in northern Alberta began notifying patients Tuesday to come in for blood tests while community leaders tried to calm nervous and angry residents in a dirty-syringe scare that may affect up to 2,700 people.

"There's a lot of panic, a lot of confusion, people trying to find out who needs what tests where," said Vicky Barsalou of the High Prairie Native Friendship Centre in the town, 260 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.

"They're saying there is a low level of possibility of infection, but you know it still scares the living daylights out of people."

She said she is fielding a barrage of calls from frightened and angry residents, worried they or their children may have contracted hepatitis B, hepatitis C or HIV from syringes reused in medical and dental surgery for years at the High Prairie Health Complex.

"I have a friend who is threatening the most horrible things if anything ever happened to her daughter," said Barsalou. "But this is a first reaction, so you're going to have the panic and you're going to have everybody running around saying, 'oh my God, oh my God, oh my God' until it finally starts to settle down."

On Monday, the province announced that earlier this month it learned nurses at the health complex had been routinely injecting drugs into patients' intravenous lines with the same syringe.

A fresh syringe was supposed to have been used each time to avoid any blood-borne diseases from one patient being accidentally injected into the bloodstream of another.

Blood tests are being arranged for 1,300 patients who had endoscopy procedures over four years dating back to March 2004. As many as 1,400 patients who had dental surgeries at the same hospital dating back to 1990 also need to be tested.

Deb Guerette, who speaks for the oversight body, the Peace Country Health region, said they began notifying patients Tuesday.

"Everybody who needs to be tested will be contacted," said Guerette.

She urged residents to wait until they are contacted before having a test done to ensure the proper blood test is performed and the province can monitor the results.

Councillor James Waikle, speaking for the town on behalf of absent Mayor Rick Dumont, said he and his wife have had dental surgery at the centre.

"Am I going to get a letter? We'll find out. I'm not worried. My wife isn't worried either. We have an excellent health complex with an excellent staff and I trust them all with my life."

In Edmonton, opposition politicians hammered away at the government for a second straight day during question period in the legislature.

NDP Leader Brian Mason said Premier Ed Stelmach should personally apologize to High Prairie residents for promising, then failing to monitor and enforce standards for infection control.

"When are you going to face up to your responsibilities?" Mason demanded of Stelmach.

"We face our responsibilities every day. I don't have to be threatened by any political leader in this house," Stelmach shot back.

Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft said given the province has inspectors for restaurants, fish sizes, and tread depth for commercial trucks, "why doesn't it feel compelled to have a system that polices whether or not proper standards are being met in health care?"

Health Minister Ron Liepert replied there is monitoring in place by the province and by the professional bodies governing health workers.

"When this came to our attention we stopped it immediately," said Liepert.

"What's inherent in the question by the leader of the opposition is that the various (professional) colleges around this province are not doing their job, and I resent that and I'm sure so do they."

The problem in High Prairie was discovered earlier this month by a manager who observed a nurse using a used syringe.

Alberta's Quality Health Council is now investigating. The health region has said injections were performed by both registered nurses and licensed practical nurses, who receive training on safe injection practices.

Barsalou said the big question for residents is unanswered: "How could it have been going on for this long without anybody noticing or catching on?"

It's is the second recent case involving poor sterilization procedures at an Alberta hospital.

In 2007, poor sterilization techniques and the outbreak of a superbug forced 3,000 patients from St. Joseph's Hospital in Vegreville east of Edmonton to be tested for infection.

Since 2001, the Center for Disease Control in the U.S. has identified several hepatitis C outbreaks associated with syringe reuse. Syringe reuse was common practice in the 1990s but was phased out when the outbreaks started.