Utah fears thousands infected in hepatitis C outbreak after exposure to hospital nurse
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}More than 7,000 patients at a Utah hospital were potentially exposed to an “outbreak” of hepatitis C after coming into contact with an infected former nurse – but less than half have come in for free testing to find out if they have the disease.
“We do consider this an outbreak,” Angela Dunn, a physician with the Utah Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told the Standard Examiner. “When we have two or more hepatitis C-related infections, we consider it an outbreak.”
Only 35 percent of the 7,200 patients contacted to receive free testing have come forward so far, FOX13 reported.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“We’re hoping for about half at the end of the day, but we only have a few weeks left of free testing,” Dunn said.
Several people have already tested positive for the disease; however, the final tally of those infected isn’t expected to be released until February or March.
“When we have two or more hepatitis C-related infections, we consider it an outbreak."
Mckay-Dee Hospital, in Ogden, and Davis Hospital, in Layton, are offering free testing through the end of January. Those are the hospitals that previously employed 49-year-old nurse Elet Neilson, who contracted a rare strain of the disease, genome 2b. Both that strain and a different variation of hepatitis C have been identified through testing, according to the Standard Examiner. Exposure to the disease is thought to have occurred between June 17, 2013 and Nov. 25, 2014, according to FOX13.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Neilson was fired for reportedly using medications illegally and eventually pleaded to a misdemeanor for possession of a controlled substance, paying a $413 fine and serving no jail time.
Dunn told KUTV the current outbreak was the first one ever reported for hepatitis C in Utah, though a similar outbreak occurred in Denver in 2009. In that instance a nurse who was stealing drugs replaced them with used syringes filled with saline.
Dunn said it was important for everyone contacted to be tested because symptoms of hepatitis C can lay dormant for decades.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“People can have no symptoms for decades and then all of the sudden their liver will start failing and that’s a deadly part of the disease,” Dunn said. “So it’s important to be identified early in the disease court when people don’t have symptoms so they can get effective treatment.”