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Nebraska Clinic Suspected Of
Infecting Dozens With HCV
Unusual HCV Strain Acquired At Oncology Clinic
From Patricia Doyle
dr_p_doyle@hotmail.com
10-18-2

Hello Jeff... Maybe those of us who have NO risk factors for HCV will not be scruitinized and judged by the health care professionals responsible for our treatment so often now.
 
For all of those who judged HCV patients and who believed/suggested that we were drug users, had promiscuous sex, etc., here is proof that HCV is also being given to healthy Americans by their own health system.
 
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org
 
Date: Thu 17 Oct 2002
From: Pablo Nart <p.nart@virgin.net>
Source: Columbus Telegram com, Wed 16 Oct 2002 [edited]
 
Nebraska: Possible Cluster of Cases with Uncommon Hepatitis C Virus
 
By Tracy Buffington
Columbus Telegram
10-16-2
 
http://www.columbustelegram.com/articles/2002/10/16/news/news3.txt
 
Nebraska Department of Health officials are asking more than 600 patients of a Fremont oncology doctor to be tested for a strain of hepatitis C virus, which can damage the liver. Letters were sent to 612 people from the Fremont area who received treatment at [this physician's] clinic between 1 Mar 2000 and 31 Dec 2001. "We're recommending that persons within that window period who sought care in [this doctor's] practice come back and have a screening test performed," said Dr. Tom Safranek, the state epidemiologist with the Nebraska Department of Health.
 
Patients who received letters are asked to call (402) 941-7020 to set up an appointment to be tested. A special clinic has been set up to handle the tests. Those receiving letters also can call that number to ask questions. "It's a voluntary thing," Safranek said. "We're recommending it. We're also recommending that it be done through this clinic just because it's a central point where everybody is getting a standard test. And we're making some counseling and question answers available for persons who have questions and want to discuss this."
 
State officials first learned of a possible cluster of an uncommon strain of hepatitis C virus about 3 weeks ago. Hepatitis C virus causes an infection of the liver. In most patients, this infection causes no symptoms. Some patients experience symptoms such as fatigue, loss of appetite, and a yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes. The virus can cause the liver to fail, but that usually takes 20 years or more, Safranek said. "We had a cluster of people with no identifiable risk factors who had contracted hepatitis C virus genotype 3A," Safranek said. "The one thing they had in common was they had been cared for in the same medical practice."
 
Safranek said 10 individuals have been identified with "clinic acquired" hepatitis C virus infection. Though 5-10 more people might have acquired hepatitis C virus in that fashion, a review of the records has not been completed. "We have identified an individual who was cared for at the hematology oncology clinic, who was hepatitis C virus-positive prior to coming to the clinic, and a person who had known risk factors for hepatitis C. And it looks to us like that might be the way it got introduced into the clinic," Safranek said. Officials are trying to pinpoint how the disease was passed from one person to the next. Safranek said the investigation will look for anything the infected patients had in common such as types of chemotherapy and other procedures.
 
"Those who test positive will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis; it is a disease that is very slowly progressive," Safranek said. "Many, many people who have this infection might not be aware they are infected. It's what I would call a silent infection. Many people will live a perfectly normal life without ever being aware they have a Hepatitis C infection."
 
_____
 
ProMED-mail promed@promedmail.org
 
Further information on this incident would be welcomed. Hepatitis C virus genotype 3A is not uncommon in Europe and North America, suggesting introduction of the virus from a local source rather than from abroad.
 
The report does not provide any clues as to the route of transmission of the virus from patient to patient within the clinic. Unfortunately lapses in procedures still occur.
 
The following example is taken from an AP report in the Herald Sun (Oklahoma), 10 Oct 2002 [edited] <http://www.heraldsun.com/healthmed/34-275438.html>.
 
"A hepatitis C outbreak that has infected 52 people in Oklahoma has led to a national warning to nurse anesthetists against reusing needles in intravenous tubes. A nurse anesthetist in Oklahoma City, told health officials he reused needles and syringes up to 25 times a day to inject pain medication through intravenous tubes at a pain management clinic in Norman and 2 surgical centers in Oklahoma City. The nurse anesthetist is under investigation by the state Department of Health and the Oklahoma Board of Nursing. Health officials have sent letters to 1220 patients treated by the nurse, telling them to get tested for hepatitis C, and 52 of the patients have tested positive since late August. Last year, 19 patients of a Brooklyn, N.Y., clinic contracted hepatitis C when an anesthesiologist reused needles and a vial of medication. The American Association of Nurse Anesthetists has sent 33 000 letters to hospital administrators, nurse anesthetists, and nursing students nationwide, citing the Oklahoma outbreak and telling them not to reuse needles. Experts say some health practitioners may not be aware that reusing needles is dangerous because the needles are inserted into tubes rather than under the skin. "After discussion with infection control experts, we have concerns there may be a widespread misunderstanding by health care practitioners of the dangers associated with the reuse of needles and syringes," the letter said. Dr. Elliot Greene, associate professor of anesthesiology at Albany Medical College in Albany, N.Y., said studies done in the 1990s documented that health care professionals sometimes reused needles when injecting drugs into intravenous tubes." - Mods.CP/MPP]
 
 
Patricia A. Doyle, PhD Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message board at: http://www.clickitnews.com/emergingdiseases/index.shtml Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa Go with God and in Good Health





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