State Issues Report in Hepatitis C Cases

[Guest guest]

-------Original Message-------

State Issues Report in Hepatitis C CasesMar 29, 2005 6:50 am US/Eastern

Timonium, MD (WJZ) State health officials still can't say with certainty how a pharmacy in Timonium infected 16 people last fall with hepatitis C. But findings released yesterday cast suspicion on a tainted blood sample. The patients had been injected with a tracer used routinely in cardiac stress tests. The tracer had been prepared at the pharmacy October 15th and was sent to three area clinics. A 79-year-old Brooklyn Park man died, and his family says the virus caused his death. Investigators noted that the day before the tracer was prepared, technicians at the pharmacy processed a blood sample that contained hepatitis C and other viruses. The pharmacy had been unaware that the blood was infected. The pharmacy was operated by Ohio-based Cardinal Health and closed, at the state's request, in December. The company is reviewing the state's report and hasn't decided whether to reopen the pharmacy.

http://wjz.com/localstories/local_story_088064716.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

State probe fails to discover source of hepatitis C cases contamination

BALTIMORE -- Health officials remain mystified how a vial of testing solution became infected with the hepatitis C virus and infected 16 people, despite a five-month state probe _ although a report summarizing the investigation casts suspicion on a tainted blood sample. The vial was produced by a Timonium pharmacy run by Cardinal Health, the Dublin, Ohio-based company has said. All 16 people who received the tracer later tested positive for hepatitis C. One recipient, a 79-year-old retired Brooklyn Park ironworker, died from the disease, his family said. The 16 people were injected with the solution Oct. 15 for routine heart-stress testing. State epidemiologists noted in a summary of their findings released Monday that the day before the tracer was prepared, pharmacy technicians processed a blood sample that contained hepatitis B, hepatitis C and the human immunodeficiency virus. The pharmacy had been unaware that the blood was infected, the report said. Tests by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta showed that the hepatitis C virus in the blood sample was similar to the virus found in the tracer, the report said. However, the materials used to process the tracer were discarded by the time the cases began to appear. Because of that, investigators said they could not say conclusively that the infected blood contaminated the tracer. A decision on whether to reopen the pharmacy, which closed following the outbreak, has not been made, a company official said Monday. State health officials said Monday that no other cases of hepatitis C are expected to be linked to the contaminated tracer.

http://www.onnnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=3138156