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Nearly 80 Patients Potentially Infected with Hepatitis C at Nevada Clinic
Unsafe injection practices at a Nevada endoscopy clinic have caused at least six cases of hepatitis C, MMWR reports. State officials say the final number may approach 80.
Investigators describe the likely infection route this way: "A clean needle and syringe were used to draw medication from a single-use vial of propofol ... The medication was injected directly through an intravenous catheter into the patient's arm. If a patient required more sedation, the needle was removed from the syringe and replaced with a new needle; the new needle with the old syringe was used to draw more medication. Backflow from the patient's intravenous catheter or from needle removal might have contaminated the syringe with HCV and subsequently contaminated the vial. Medication remaining in the vial was used to sedate the next patient."
MMWR's editors write that medical and nursing schools, as well as organizations overseeing licensure requirements, should include infection-control practices as areas of competency.
LINK(S):
MMWR article (Free)
Southern Nevada Health District press release (Free PDF)
Published in Physician's First Watch May 16, 2008
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