- Previously: Clark County Public Health and PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center advised 936 former hospital patients to be tested for hepatitis C. An investigation revealed they may have been exposed to the disease through the actions of a former hospital employee.
- What’s new: Hospital and public health officials said the joint investigation produced no evidence patients were exposed to the hepatitis C virus at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center.
- What’s next: Public health and hospital officials will continue to monitor hepatitis C cases reported in the county and among hospital patients to determine whether any links exist.
A joint investigation by Clark County Public Health and PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center concluded no patients were exposed to hepatitis C at the hospital.
The news, announced Wednesday, came after officials from the two organizations wrapped up an investigation that spanned six months and encompassed more than 900 patients who visited the hospital over a two-year period ending in February.
“We have no evidence that would link any exposure to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center,” said Sy Johnson, the hospital’s chief executive officer.
The investigation was launched when a couple of hospital employees alerted officials in February to strange behavior from a co-worker whom they said was exhibiting signs of substance abuse. Hospital officials suspected the employee was diverting drugs at the hospital for personal use and immediately removed the employee from patient care. The employee, whose name, job title and gender was not released, left the organization in March.
Hospital and public health officials reviewed patient files created during the course of the employee’s tenure and found that a person with no known risk factors for hepatitis C was diagnosed with the virus in December 2012, a few months after receiving care at the hospital.
That discovery prompted officials to send certified letters urging hundreds of former hospital patients to undergo hepatitis C testing as a precaution.
“We did what we did in the interest of patient safety and an abundance of caution,” Johnson said.
The hospital would not say if the former employee was infected with hepatitis C, citing privacy rules, and said it did not have any evidence the former employee infected any patients with the virus. Officials said they had only “reasonable suspicion” of drug diversion. The subsequent investigation did not reveal any additional facts to support or discredit that suspicion, Johnson said.
Officials determined, however, that 936 former hospital patients may have been exposed to hepatitis C — a contagious, blood-borne liver disease — through the actions of the employee. All of the patients — most of whom, if not all, are adults — received care from the employee in question and were administered drugs during the course of their stay at the hospital.
About 80 percent of those patients — 742 of 936 people — underwent testing. Some of them received positive test results, but hospital and health officials are confident the patients did not contract the virus during their stays at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center.
“We expected to find some positive tests for hepatitis C,” said Dr. Alan Melnick, public health administrator and health officer.
An estimated 3 million to 4 million people in the U.S. are infected with hepatitis C, but many don’t know they’re infected, Melnick said. At that rate, Clark County could have as many as 4,000 to 5,000 people with the virus, with many not knowing they’re infected, he said.
Hepatitis C infection ranges in severity from a mild illness lasting a few weeks to a serious, lifelong illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most people have no symptoms, but without treatment, some of those infected will develop chronic liver disease, which can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer, according to the CDC.
Of the 742 PeaceHealth Southwest patients, 27 tested positive for hepatitis C. Of those, only 12 had the virus present in their blood, Melnick said. That means the 15 other people had the virus at some point in their lives, but their bodies cleared the virus without it leading to infection, he said.
Samples from the 12 people who tested positive for the hepatitis C virus were sent to the CDC for viral sequencing, a process similar to genetic testing, Melnick said. The sequencing was used to compare the viruses from all of the positive tests. A match would indicate those people received the virus from the same person.
None of the viruses from the PeaceHealth Southwest patients matched, meaning there was no link between the cases, Melnick said.
Based on those test results, health officials are confident patients were not exposed to the virus at the hospital. As a precaution, however, public health and hospital officials will continue to monitor all hepatitis C cases reported in the county and among patients to determine whether any links exist, Melnick said.
“I don’t expect we’re going to find anything different,” he said.
The 80 percent testing rate is impressive for any investigation and provides a robust sample size, Melnick said. Still, health officials are urging patients who received the letter but did not get tested for the virus to do so.
