By PAUL HARASIM
REVIEW-JOURNAL
A hepatitis C exposure registry developed two weeks ago by the
Southern Nevada Health District now has 3,200 people on the list.
It was developed to help identify patients who had procedures at
two gastroenterological clinics principally owned by Dr. Dipak
Desai.
"We sent out 53,000 letters and already have 3,200 responses from
patients at both the Shadow Lane and Burnham Avenue Clinics," said
Brian Labus, senior epidemiologist for the health district. "We
consider that a very good response."
Forty thousand letters were sent to former patients of the
Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada on Shadow Lane, and 13,000
additional letters were sent to patients of the Desert Shadow
Endoscopy Center on Burnham Avenue.
The registry enrollment forms are four pages long and ask former
patients to reveal procedure dates, testing results and possible
risk factors for disease. They are available online at
www.southernnevadahealthdistrict.org.
"We know that we don't have contact information for everybody or
that the contact information we have may be wrong," Labus said.
"We're hoping that publicity about the registry will also get more
people to contact us."
Seven cases of hepatitis C have been linked to the Endoscopy
Center of Southern Nevada on Shadow Lane as a result of the reuse of
syringes and single dose vials of anesthesia. Initially, health
officials sent letters to 40,000 former patients urging them to be
tested for blood borne diseases.
"We don't know how many of them actually got tested," said Labus,
adding that a number of letters were returned because former
patients had moved. "We need all the information we can get to help
with the investigation and to understand the effects of exposure or
disease."
One case of hepatitis transmission has been linked to the Burnham
Avenue facility.
Officials now think as many as 50,000 patients visited the Shadow
Lane facility between March 2004 and Jan. 11, the time frame that
officials believe unsafe injection practices took place.
Along with the seven hepatitis C cases linked to that clinic, an
additional 77 people who have chronic hepatitis C might have
contracted the disease there. About 400 people who underwent
procedures at the clinic have tested positive for hepatitis C.
Calling patients based on positive lab results has not proved
successful, Labus said.
Often, he said, individuals had common names and clinic records
did not help public health officials sort out who to call. Labus
said telephone numbers often had changed.
At present, Labus said the registry has no cutoff date.
"We have to remember that some people can't even be tested until
July," Labus said.
Even if someone has contracted hepatitis, it can take six months
before signs of the disease will show up in a test.
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