Drug abuse a possible cause for hepatitis C outbreak in N.H. hospital
Patient Safety Monitor Insider, June 20, 2012
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The number of patients infected by hepatitis C at Exeter (N.H.) Hospital has risen to 19, and health officials suspect that a drug-using employee may be the cause of the outbreak. Investigators suspect that an employee associated with the cardiac catheterization lab used syringes to satisfy a drug habit, then reused the syringes on patients to hide the drug abuse. More than 1,000 additional patients have been identified as at risk and in need of testing since the issue surfaced last month.
Though cases of employee drug use leading to hepatitis C outbreaks are rare, it is not completely unlikely. Last month the Centers for Disease Control issued a report titled “Health Care-Associated Hepatitis C Virus Infections Attributed to Narcotic Diversion,” which includes details of a similar outbreak case in 2007, in which a 285-bed hospital tested 3,000 patients for hepatitis C and discovered three cases related to a technician’s actions. In 2009, a surgery technician in Colorado infected 39 patients with hepatitis C by reusing equipment and hospital opiates, and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Source: Nashua Telegraph
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