ALLEGANY — Twelve people recently tested positive for hepatitis C and one for hepatitis B as part of testing offered by Olean General Hospital over the possible reuse of insulin pens on patients over a three-year period, the Cattaraugus County Board of Health learned Wednesday.
Cattaraugus County Public Health Director Dr. Kevin Watkins reported to the Board of Health that the people who tested positive will be retested using a different method to rule out any false positive test results.
All the positive hepatitis B and C cases “were part of this recently tested for blood-borne pathogens” at Olean General Hospital related to the possible use of insulin pens on multiple patients.
It would seem like someone would have noticed the reuse of insulin pens over a 3-year period! Not sharing any thing that comes into contact with blood or bodily fluids is basic blood borne pathogen training. The reuse of insulin pens has been implicated in several outbreaks of hepatitis B and C. Maybe there should be a black box warning on insulin pens that sates 'sharing insulin pens can lead to potentially life-threatening conditions like hepatitis B and C.'
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see if the infections can directly traced back to the reuse of the insulin pens or if the infections were existing infections, but that were diagnosed because of the outbreak.