Exeter Lawmaker: Hold Public Meeting on Hepatitis C Disaster

An Exeter lawmaker wants state health offiicials to hold a meeting to address the public's questions and concerns about a hepatitis C outbreak at Exeter Hospital that has at least 14 people.

Hepatitis C is a chronic and sometimes fatal liver disease. State health officials are investigating how the outbreak happened. One possibility they are looking into is that a caused it.

The number of infected patients could rise, as tests results are still coming in on the hundreds of patients who may have been exposed to the disease.

"The doctors, patients and people in the community of Exeter need more information regarding the steps that are being taken to get to the bottom of this," said Rep. Lee Quandt, R-Exeter, who called on health officials to hold a public meeting. "It is important that we make sure every possible resource is being brought to bear on this important public health and safety issue.

"Constituents of mine and doctors in the community that make referrals to Exeter for this type of procedure deserve a full explanation of the process. “

Quandt was motivated to call for the meeting after hearing from Domenic Paolini, a medical expert that has how Exeter Hospital has handled the outbreak.

The pair said the following questions need to be answered:

• How often does Exeter test the staff?
• Are they drug testing the entire staff now or changing their drug testing standards?
• What is the current involvement of the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)?
• What is being changed or exists regarding needle tracking procedures?
• Has the (lab where to outbreak occurred) been scrubbed down in a thorough cleaning?
• What kind of public health education will be done in the coming months regarding Hep C since it can take 6 months for an infection to turn up?

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