A technician maliciously spread the hepatitis virus, and various states launched an investigation operation

A technician maliciously spread the hepatitis virus, and various states launched an investigation operation. A medical technician at a hospital in New Hampshire deliberately transmitted hepatitis C to patients, and the case...

A technician maliciously spread the hepatitis virus. States launched an investigation operation. A medical technician at a hospital in New Hampshire intentionally transmitted hepatitis C to patients. The case has expanded rapidly. Because the technician worked at hospitals in seven other states, investigators fear thousands of people may have been infected, and states have launched sweeps and screening operations. David Kwiatkowski, a 33-year-old medical technician from Michigan, was suspected of stealing Fentanyl, an anesthetic more potent than morphine, from 2011 to 2012 when he worked at the cardiac catheterization laboratory of Exeter Hospital in New Hampshire, administered it himself, and then reused the injection needle for other patients. Although Kwiatkoski claimed he had been infected with hepatitis C since May 2012, federal detectives have determined that he had been infected since at least June 2010. Kwiatkoski allowed patients to use his injected needles to transmit virus-infected blood to others. After his arrest, he was charged with spreading hepatitis C, defrauding controlled substances, and damaging consumer products. So far, 30 patients have been diagnosed with the exact same strain of hepatitis C virus as Kwiatkoski. Because Kwiatkoski worked in the operating theater and intensive care unit at Exeter Hospital between April 1, 2011, and May 25, 2012, everyone who had surgery or was admitted to the intensive care unit during that period should have their blood tested. In order to find out the number of patients infected by it, the hospital notified nearly 6,000 patients to undergo hepatitis C screening on the 23rd. In addition, given that Kwiatkoski has also worked in hospitals in Arizona, New York, Maryland, Michigan, Kansas, Georgia, and Pennsylvania in the past five years, health authorities in these states are calling on patients who have been in contact with Kwiatkoski to also receive hepatitis C screening.