2 dates identified in Vegas hepatitis C outbreak

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2 dates identified in Vegas hepatitis C outbreak

By Ken Ritter

ASSOCIATED PRESS

8:28 a.m. July 24, 2008

LAS VEGAS – A hepatitis C outbreak that prompted the largest public health

notification operation in U.S. history has been traced to patients treated at a

Las Vegas endoscopy clinic on two days in 2007, health officials said Thursday.

“What we have right now is those two dates,” Labus, senior Southern Nevada

Health District epidemiologist, said after DNA tests traced the spread of the

incurable virus to people treated July 25, 2007, and Sept. 21, 2007, at the

Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada.

Health officials earlier identified the months of July and September when they

began notifying some 50,000 former clinic patients Feb. 27 to get blood tests to

check for hepatitis B, C and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

“We know now the chain of transmission,” Labus told The Associated Press as he

prepared for a Thursday presentation to the district board. “We know where the

virus came from and where it went. We're starting to get a better understanding

of what happened at the clinic.”

On Wednesday, district officials linked an eighth case of hepatitis C to the

Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada. A ninth case in the outbreak has been

traced to an affiliated clinic, the Desert Shadow Endoscopy Center in Las Vegas.

Both outpatient facilities were headed by Dr. Dipak Desai, a member of the

Nevada Board of Medical Examiners from 1993 to 2001, and former chairman of the

board's investigative committee. Desai has surrendered his license to practice

medicine in Nevada pending the results of hepatitis investigations and a Sept. 8

hearing before the board.

Labus said investigators found clinic staff members reused syringes and vials of

medicine, spreading the blood-borne liver disease from patient to patient. He

said individual patients' identities and information about their treatment would

not be made public for health privacy reasons.

“It is important for us to remember that this outbreak is not the result of any

actions on the part of the patients,” Dr. Lawrence Sands, district chief health

officer, said in a statement released Thursday, “but it is the result of unsafe

practices by the staff of these clinics.”

Health district officials have said 77 more people contracted hepatitis while

being treated at the Endoscopy Center from March 2004 to last Jan. 11. But

investigators could not conclusively link those cases to procedures at the

clinic.

In all, some 400 former patients of the center tested positive for hepatitis C

but officials have determined that most could have contracted the virus through

other means, including intravenous drug use, blood transfusions, organ

transplants, kidney dialysis, receiving blood clotting agents before 1987, or

sexual contact with a person with hepatitis C.

Sands said 6,000 people have enrolled in a hepatitis C exposure registry that

the district established in June.

“We are very encouraged by participation in the registry,” Sands said. “Patients

are providing us with important information about their procedures, their test

results, and health status. The registry will allow us to identify additional

cases or exposures at either clinic.”

Hepatitis C results in the swelling of the liver and can cause stomach pain,

fatigue and jaundice. It may eventually result in liver failure. Even when no

symptoms occur, the virus can slowly damage the liver.

A Nevada judge on Tuesday ruled that patients who were treated at the clinic but

weren't made ill can claim emotional distress in a class-action lawsuit. The

clinic currently faces 121 lawsuits in County District Court in Las Vegas.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On the Net:

Southern Nevada Health District: www.southernnevadahealthdistrict.org

_________________________________________________________________

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[Guest guest]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/health/20080724-0828-nv-hepatitisexposure.htm\

l

2 dates identified in Vegas hepatitis C outbreak

By Ken Ritter

ASSOCIATED PRESS

8:28 a.m. July 24, 2008

LAS VEGAS – A hepatitis C outbreak that prompted the largest public health

notification operation in U.S. history has been traced to patients treated at a

Las Vegas endoscopy clinic on two days in 2007, health officials said Thursday.

“What we have right now is those two dates,” Labus, senior Southern Nevada

Health District epidemiologist, said after DNA tests traced the spread of the

incurable virus to people treated July 25, 2007, and Sept. 21, 2007, at the

Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada.

Health officials earlier identified the months of July and September when they

began notifying some 50,000 former clinic patients Feb. 27 to get blood tests to

check for hepatitis B, C and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

“We know now the chain of transmission,” Labus told The Associated Press as he

prepared for a Thursday presentation to the district board. “We know where the

virus came from and where it went. We're starting to get a better understanding

of what happened at the clinic.”

On Wednesday, district officials linked an eighth case of hepatitis C to the

Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada. A ninth case in the outbreak has been

traced to an affiliated clinic, the Desert Shadow Endoscopy Center in Las Vegas.

Both outpatient facilities were headed by Dr. Dipak Desai, a member of the

Nevada Board of Medical Examiners from 1993 to 2001, and former chairman of the

board's investigative committee. Desai has surrendered his license to practice

medicine in Nevada pending the results of hepatitis investigations and a Sept. 8

hearing before the board.

Labus said investigators found clinic staff members reused syringes and vials of

medicine, spreading the blood-borne liver disease from patient to patient. He

said individual patients' identities and information about their treatment would

not be made public for health privacy reasons.

“It is important for us to remember that this outbreak is not the result of any

actions on the part of the patients,” Dr. Lawrence Sands, district chief health

officer, said in a statement released Thursday, “but it is the result of unsafe

practices by the staff of these clinics.”

Health district officials have said 77 more people contracted hepatitis while

being treated at the Endoscopy Center from March 2004 to last Jan. 11. But

investigators could not conclusively link those cases to procedures at the

clinic.

In all, some 400 former patients of the center tested positive for hepatitis C

but officials have determined that most could have contracted the virus through

other means, including intravenous drug use, blood transfusions, organ

transplants, kidney dialysis, receiving blood clotting agents before 1987, or

sexual contact with a person with hepatitis C.

Sands said 6,000 people have enrolled in a hepatitis C exposure registry that

the district established in June.

“We are very encouraged by participation in the registry,” Sands said. “Patients

are providing us with important information about their procedures, their test

results, and health status. The registry will allow us to identify additional

cases or exposures at either clinic.”

Hepatitis C results in the swelling of the liver and can cause stomach pain,

fatigue and jaundice. It may eventually result in liver failure. Even when no

symptoms occur, the virus can slowly damage the liver.

A Nevada judge on Tuesday ruled that patients who were treated at the clinic but

weren't made ill can claim emotional distress in a class-action lawsuit. The

clinic currently faces 121 lawsuits in County District Court in Las Vegas.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On the Net:

Southern Nevada Health District: www.southernnevadahealthdistrict.org

_________________________________________________________________

Use video conversation to talk face-to-face with Windows Live Messenger.

http://www.windowslive.com/messenger/connect_your_way.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_Ref\

resh_messenger_video_072008