Sixty-nine dialysis patients in a hospital in eastern China are in a stable condition after being infected with hepatitis C, authorities said on Monday.
Dongtai People’s Hospital in Jiangsu province reported the outbreak in its haemodialysis centre on May 13, the Dongtai city government said in a statement.
An investigation found the infection was caused by poor implementation of infection control rules, and the hospital’s Communist Party secretary, president and vice-president were sacked.
The Dongtai health commission refused to comment further, and calls to the hospital went unanswered.
The hospital covered treatment fees for all of those infected and its haemodialysis centre had continued to operate as normal, Caixinreported on Sunday.
Unsafe injection practices in health care settings are considered to be a major route of hepatitis C virus transmission, according to the World Health Organisation.
In China, the occurrence of such cases had decreased considerably in recent decades, Dr Lu Hongzhou, a leading infectious disease expert from Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centre, said.
“Haemodialysis patients often get infected because the infusion tube is used multiple times instead of just once,” Lu said. “Such things used to be common in China, but not any more. The Dongtai case is about violation of operation norms.”
Regulations for haemodialysis centres issued by the Chinese health ministry in 2016 state that all tools used in blood collection and injection should be disposed of immediately after use, and a test for hepatitis B and C, HIV and syphilis should be conducted on all patients who apply for dialysis.
They are required to have a check-up every six months if found to be infected with any of those viruses.
In 2017, Chengyang District People’s Hospital, in Qingdao in Shandong province, apologised after nine haemodialysis patients were infected with hepatitis C because of a breach of procedures.
The previous year, 26 haemodialysis patients in a hospital in Shangluo in Shaanxi province were infected in similar circumstances.
Source: scmp.com
