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The possibility of drug diversion by
an employee is among potential causes being explored for a recent hepatitis C
outbreak at Exeter Hospital’s cardiac catheterization lab, Dr. José Montero,
New Hampshire’s public health director, said Saturday. “That’s one of the
possibilities” being investigated, though the source of the outbreak is still
not known, he said.
Fourteen people linked to the lab
have been diagnosed with the same strain of hepatitis C; one is a hospital
employee. All have been notified of their test results.
“It has happened before in other
states,” Montero said of drug diversion cases, where an infected employee uses
syringes to inject narcotics and then re-uses these same syringes on patients.
State investigators are reviewing Exeter’s “policies and procedures and the use
of supplies and disposables,” he said.
Exeter has notified 879 patients
treated at the lab and its recovery unit of their need to be tested for
infection. All had been treated between April 1, 2011, and May 25 of this year.
Of the other blood samples the state has tested: 473 showed no sign of
infection; 55 results are still pending; and another 350 samples are expected
to be sent to the state lab, Montero said. Two cases of hepatitis C that were
of a different strain are considered unrelated to the outbreak, he added.
If officials continue to diagnose
infections among the lab’s patients, the state could need to test those treated
earlier than April 1, 2011, Montero said. The state health department has determined
the lab is safe now, and normal operations have resumed.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
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