8 Hepatitis Cases Linked to Clinic

[Guest guest]

This was posted over on liversupport-L. Thought everyone might want

to read it...Andi

8 HEPATITIS CASES LINKED TO CLINIC

June 9, 2001 -- The city Health Department issued an alert yesterday

to 2,200

patients of a private Brooklyn health clinic after eight people who

underwent

procedures there were infected with hepatitis C, a serious liver

disease.

Dr. Neal Cohen, the city's health commissioner, urged all patients of

the Bay

Ridge Endoscopy and Digestive Health Center to undergo precautionary

tests

for possible infection.

" Nobody should panic or get alarmed by it, " declared Mayor Giuliani

at City

Hall.

A special Health Department hot line was also set up at (212) 788-

2222.

Cohen said the doctors who run the center, identified as

Rovito and

Castellano, notified state authorities on May 1 that three of

their

patients examined in March had come down with hepatitis C, a liver

disease

caused by a blood-borne virus.

Five other patients were later diagnosed with the disease.

" At this point, we can't pinpoint how it happened, " Cohen said.

Seven patients became acutely ill and had to be hospitalized. All

have since

returned home. A ninth case was detected in January, but officials

said it

isn't known if it's related to the current outbreak.

The health center opened last year.

Cohen said blood samples were sent for genetic sequencing to the

federal

Centers for Disease Control in hopes of establishing a common source

of the

infections.

Endoscopy and colonoscopy are common procedures performed with

flexible,

tube-like instruments inserted through the mouth or rectum to detect

gastrointestinal problems.

While there was no evidence of other types of infections at the

Brooklyn

facility, authorities said it was routine to also test for hepatitis

B and

HIV in cases where they may have been exposure to contaminated blood.

Symptoms of hepatitis C usually include loss of appetite, fatigue,

abdominal

discomfort, dark urine and jaundice. Fifty percent to 80 percent of

those who

are infected will develop a chronic condition and 10 percent to 30

percent of

that group will develop cirrhosis of the liver.

One patient told The Post that she and her husband were referred for

routine

colonoscopies last June by their doctor and are now " kind of

worried. "

" I don't think there's anything wrong with us, " the wife

said. " Knowing that

I went there, I'd like to check it out. "

Two legislators, Rep. Weiner (D-Brooklyn) and Assemblyman

Klein (D-Bronx), have been warning against the dangers of improperly

disinfected endoscopes since 1999.

Legislation introduced by Klein to impose stricter sterilization

techniques

was tabled Tuesday by the Assembly's Health Committee.