Tagged: hepatitis c

The first New Hampshire Health Department clinic to test people for hepatitis C related to an outbreak at Exeter Hospital is opening as a new report cites the hospital for violations, saying it failed to properly maintain supervision over narcotics.

The Department of Health and Human Services has revised its plan for testing patients who were exposed to the Hepatitis C outbreak at Exeter Hospital.

DHHS says that during the past week the estimated number of patients who might have been exposed to Hepatitis C has been reduced to around 3,300, because many of the names on the list were repeats. They say in the new plan to test those patients there are 4 locations: in Stratham, Plaistown, Manchester and Rochester starting August 10th.  

The investigation continues into the Hepatitis C outbreak at Exeter Hospital is moving to several other states. This week officials at a hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York, are testing about 25 patients who underwent procedures at the time technician David Kwiatowski worked there.

Public Health officials have announced that approximately 6,000 more patients of Exeter Hospital need to be tested for Hepatitis C. Anyone who had inpatient surgery or treatment in the ICU between April, 2011 and May, 2012 are encouraged to attend a testing clinic at Exeter High School this weekend.

Last week, 32-year old David Kwiatkowski was charged with stealing syringes of pain medication before  reusing them on patients in the Cardiac Catheterization Lab, where we has employed as a medical technician.

More details are emerging today about the former Exeter Hospital employee who has been charged in connection with the Hepatitis C outbreak. Thirty patients have tested positive for a strain of the virus that matches that of 32-year old David Kwiatowski. He’s been accused of stealing syringes of pain medication, injecting himself and then returning the needles. He’s facing federal charges of tampering and acquiring a controlled substance by fraud.

A spokesman for The Johns Hopkins Hospital says a man accused of causing a hepatitis C outbreak in New Hampshire previously worked at the Baltimore hospital.

The U.S. Attorney’s office today announced the first criminal charges in connection with the Hepatitis C outbreak at Exeter Hospital.