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Health officials blame lapses in infection control practices
THURSDAY, Jan. 28, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Reports of hepatitis C infections among dialysis patients in the United States are rising, largely because of poor infection control practices, health officials say.
Between 2014 and 2015, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention received reports of about 36 cases of hepatitis C infection at 19 kidney dialysis clinics in eight states.
So far, investigators have determined that patient-to-patient transmission of hepatitis C occurred at nine of those clinics.
Lapses in infection control procedures — such as injection safety, cleaning and disinfection, and hand hygiene — were common at these clinics, the CDC reported Wednesday. The exact means of hepatitis C transmission could not be pinpointed, but all of these deficiencies could contribute to transmission of the virus.
Read the CDC Health Advisory Here: CDC Urging Dialysis Providers and Facilities to Assess and Improve Infection Control Practices to Stop Hepatitis C Virus Transmission in Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis
Read more…http://www.webmd.com/hepatitis/news/20160128/hepatitis-c-reported-at-19-dialysis-clinics-cdc