40,000 Exposed to Hepatitis Viruses Possibly

What a nightmare! To some it might seem like the plot of a horror movie, but to many people who were former patients at a Nevada endoscopy clinic, it’s painfully real.

Recently, health officials in the State of Nevada notified the public that a local medical clinic potentially exposed approximately 40,000 patients to many bloodborne viruses, including hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV. The implications of this are enormous, not the least being increased infections leading to serious diseases.

To date, there have been six confirmed cases of hepatitis C that can be traced back to a common exposure, which is receiving treatment at this clinic. Apparently the patients were exposed by clinic staff reusing the same syringe on different patients. Based on my experience in public health at the state level, you can bet that many people are working hard to investigate this outbreak.

If you would like to see epidemiology in action, learn more about this Nevada outbreak.

Nevada officials are recommending that the patients should be tested for these bloodborne viruses. If you’re interested in learning more about how doctors test for viral hepatitis, read more about the various blood tests.

Photo courtesy of Stefanie L./stock.xchng