Exeter Hospital Hep C Outbreak Gets Worse

More patients have been infected with hepatitis C – a sometimes fatal liver disease – after an outbreak at last month, officials announced this afternoon.

Four people – including a – were found to have contracted the disease when officials first the outbreak.

Additional testing identified six more patients contracted the disease – bringing the total number of infected people to 10. There's a possibility there could be more.

Health officials have been in the process of testing more than 650 patients who have been treated at a cardiac catheterization lab where the outbreak originated. About 500 of those people have had samples sent for testing so far. It takes seven to 10 days for results to come back.

Below is a news release Exeter Hospital released today about the situation:

The New Hampshire Division of Public Health Services (DPHS) has announced the first round of test results related to testing of patients who had been treated at Exeter Hospital’s Cath Lab from August 1, 2011 to May 25, 2012, thus far.

Through the first round of testing, the NH Public Health Labs (PHL)
has identified an additional 6 patients who match the original strain of hepatitis C, bringing the total number of related cases to 10.

All 6 patients will be notified by the state. The first four cases identified last week include 4 patients, one of whom is an employee of the hospital.

Because of these new results, Exeter Hospital is expanding our initial recommendations to test patients for hepatitis C, who received care at the Cath Lab and its recovery room to include those who were treated between April 1, 2011 and August 1, 2011.

Exeter Hospital has been expeditious in its outreach efforts to notify patients who now fit these criteria for testing and has already notified all new patients identified by phone, and a letter is being mailed today. The hospital’s medical staff is proactively reaching out to patients as soon as test results are made known to them by the state, and Exeter Hospital has sent close to 500 samples to the state for testing. The hospital began scheduling appointments for newly identified patients today and we are working as hard as we can to get the tests done as quickly as possible. Test results will be sent directly to the patient’s primary care physician from the DPHS within 7-10 days.

Exeter Hospital and the DPHS continue to work in close collaboration. Following an extensive review of the hospital’s staffing, procedures and practices as well as the length of our voluntary suspension of operations in the catheterization lab, the DPHS determined that the Cardiac Cath Lab and its recovery unit is safe to provide care and to proceed with normal operations. The Cath Lab returned to normal operations on Tuesday, June 5th at 8:00 a.m.

The hospital’s call center is available to assist patients with scheduling appointments Monday through Friday 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Saturday, 7:00 a.m. to 12:00pm, and can be reached at (603) 580-6124.

Exeter Hospital will continue to share more information with the media and the public as it becomes available. If there are any questions, individuals are encouraged to call the New Hampshire Division of Public Health at (603) 271-4496 or Exeter Hospital’s Information and Referral Center at (603) 580-6124.

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