Exeter Hospital Employee Infected with Hepatitis C

An employee was one of four people with hepatitis C after a recent outbreak at hospital.

The hospital today in a news release revealed the unnamed employee was infected with the sometimes fatal liver disease.

The release can be found below:

Dr. Jose Montero, the Director of the State Division of Public Health Services released this afternoon that one of the infected individuals involved in the investigation of hepatitis C at Exeter Hospital is an employee of the hospital.

While accurate, it is also true that all four, including the employee, are our patients and therefore we are prohibited from sharing information about any of them that could personally identify them or reveal personal health care information.

The State Division of Public Health Services has now cleared Exeter Hospital’s Cardiac Catheterization Lab to reopen for full and normal operations. The lab is scheduled to open at 8am on Tuesday June 5th.

Exeter Hospital will continue to work collaboratively with the experts from the state to determine the shared origin of these four cases.

As shared previously by both the Hospital and the state, hepatitis C is becoming more prevalent in the community. National standards for hospitals require us to treat all patients and employees that have direct patient contact as if they represent a possible infection risk necessitating the use of universal precautions. Exeter Hospital follows all national standards for preventing the spread of infectious disease.

At this time Exeter Hospital has either completed screening or scheduled screening for approximately 500 of the 651 individuals identified in the six month testing window around the identified cases. All 651 individuals have been sent a letter notifying them about the screening and all have received a personal telephone call from representatives at the hospital.

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