Vegas hepatitis exposure list incomplete

Vegas hepatitis exposure list incomplete
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY, Associated Press Writer
Thu Mar 6, 3:50 PM ET

LAS VEGAS - Health officials used an incomplete patient list to notify people exposed to hepatitis and HIV at a Las Vegas clinic, an epidemiologist testified Thursday.

"We know of patients who had been there whose names were not on the list," Southern Nevada Health District epidemiologist Brian Labus told a state legislative committee on health care.

The public hearing was the first investigating the spread of hepatitis C from unsafe practices at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada. An outbreak of six cases of acute hepatitis C was made public last week. The surgical center and five other affiliated clinics have been closed.

Nearly 40,000 patients who received treatment at the center from March 2004 to mid-January have received letters telling them they are at risk for exposure and urging to be tested for hepatitis B and C, and HIV.

Labus said the patient list was provided by the center and based on financial records. He did not explain why some patient names would not have appeared.

Health officials believe the clinic spread the virus by reusing syringes and vials of medication. Health District chief Lawrence Sands said it was a well-known violation of common safety standards.

The clinic's records show the practice of using single-patient vials of medication to treat more than one patient has been in use since March 2004, when the clinic underwent a renovation and expanded operation, Labus said. Inspectors could not be certain the practice wasn't in place before March 2004, he said.

The clinic's majority owner, Dipak Desai, and member of the governor's commission on health care, has refused to answer questions about the allegations. He took out a full-page ad in Sunday's Las Vegas Review-Journal insisting that needles had not been reused and that the chances of contracting an infection at the center in most of the last four years were "extremely low."

Dave, you didn't get any injections while you were in Nevada, right?

I bet that Dave IS the reason why this happened.

I, uh, had no official injections. Mine were done in back alleys. I shot some heroin with some hookers, right before I did a scuffle for hobofights.com

See... I KNEW that it was allllllllllllllll Dave's fault.


Whid, what in the world were you thinking, going into back alleys, with hookers, and shooting heroin? After all, anyone who has brains knows that you seek out the homeless looking guy, who's pushin' a sweet deal on used syringes, and a spoon full of heroin, ready to be pulled into said syringe, and you share this with the AIDS victims over by The Luxor. Have we taught you nothing?

The Luxor is where I hooked up with Pam Anderson.

***worried***

Dude, shooting heroin in back alleys with hookers is one thing, but hooking up with Pam Anderson is WAY too risky.

She has screwed more musicians than Napster.*








*courtesy of Jimmy Kimmel

That's some fucked up shit right there.

Hobo fights. Excellent.

Did I mention some crack head tried to take my wallet last time I was in Vegas? Even after I told him I was an undercover cop.

-HECK!

I think fighting a crack head in Vegas would make for an excellent story. I would bring it up in casual conversation at work or church.

"Yeah, this reminds me of the time I fought that crack head in Vegas. I split his upper lip, but he kept coming, cause, you know, he was on crack and stuff. So I did a roundhouse kick and took him down, then he pulled a knife..."

See, I got no cool stories like that. All I got is I seen some bird in the forest, and it had a ruby crown. No one goes for that dammit.