This page is an archive. Its content may no longer be accurate and was last updated on the original publication date. It is intended for reference and as a historical record only. For hep C questions, call Help4Hep BC at 1-888-411-7578.
Note from CD: Many years ago several seniors in a hospital in Florida were infected this way because inserting the syringe into the intravenous line cause a back pressure leak that forced solution into the syringe, and this infected solution was then shared. The news item from many years ago has disappeared, but many HCV advocates remember this event. If you have the source please contact us at HepCBC.
A nurse in a Texas hospital mistakenly believed saline flush prefilled syringes could be reused in separate patients’ intravenous lines, which led to a hepatitis C transmission in 2015, according to a CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report released Friday.
After coworkers observed the nurse leaving partially filled syringes near a computer work station, the hospital investigated the practice in collaboration with state, regional and local health departments and the CDC in October 2015.
In an interview, the nurse reported reusing syringes in the previous six months, “erroneously believing that this was a safe, cost-saving measure if no fluids were withdrawn into the syringe before injection of the saline flush,” according to the report.