CDC Researchers Find Hepatitis Outbreak Linked to Anesthesia

Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have found that people receiving intravenous administration of anaesthesia may be at risk for infectionwith hepatitis B and C.

According to a report on UPI the CDC investigated reports of an outbreak of acute hepatitis B and C in patients at two gastroenterology centers who had received anaesthesia during endoscopy procedures, all from the same anaesthesiologist.

The researchers found a link between the administration of propofol and six cases of hepatitis C and six cases of hepatitis B at one clinic and one case of hepatitis C infection at another clinic. The investigation found that the propofol was administrated by the same anaesthesiologist who inappropriately used a single-use vial of the drug for multiple patients.

Reuse of syringes to re-dose patients, with resulting contamination of medication vials used for subsequent patients, likely resulted in viral transmission, the researchers said. They published their findings in the journal Gastroenterology.

CDC Researchers Find Hepatitis Outbreak Linked to Anesthesia

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