DENVER, Jul 3, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Thousands of patients in Colorado may
have been exposed to hepatitis C from syringes used by an infected former
medical technician, officials say.
Rose Medical Center in Denver is offering free testing to more than 4,700 former
patients. Another 1,000 people may have been exposed at Audubon Ambulatory
Surgery Center in Colorado Springs where the technician worked after being fired
from Rose in April, The Denver Post reported Thursday.
The technician was fired after having failed a drug test. Identified by The
(Colorado Springs) Gazette newspaper as Kristen Diane Parker, 26, of Colorado
Springs, based on Justice Department documents. The documents said she was in
federal custody after allegedly swapping her used, dirty syringes, refilled with
saline solution, for ones filled the painkiller fentanyl.
Hospital officials knew she had hepatitis C when she was hired in October and
fired in April before state health officials alerted the hospital to the
infections, the newspaper said. Hospital officials stressed that the fired
employee was not confirmed to be the infection's source.
State health authorities have determined nine former Rose patients tested
positive for the disease and are still investigating, Rose officials said.
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