hepatitis C

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Nobel Prize in Medicine Goes to Trio Who Discovered Hep C

Honor for Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton, Charles M. Rice is 'long overdue'

(Newser) - We've spent most of 2020 in a tangle with one virus , but now, advances regarding another are receiving their due accolades as Nobel Prize week kicks off. The prize for physiology or medicine was awarded to scientists Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton, and Charles M. Rice for their "...

After Bloody 'Vampire' Facial, a Frightening Diagnosis

Health officials: 2 customers of NM day spa are HIV-positive after 'injection-related procedures'

(Newser) - In September, a day spa in Albuquerque, NM, suddenly shuttered , along with an explainer from state health officials that they'd identified practices at the spa "that could potentially spread blood-borne infections." Now, the New Mexico Department of Health says two former customers of VIP Spa who received...

Another Effect of Heroin Crisis: More Hepatitis C Infections

There were 2.4K new infection in 2015; that's probably fraction of actual number

(Newser) - The heroin epidemic is driving up hepatitis C infections, with the biggest increase in people ages 20 to 29, US health officials said Thursday. The number of new infections nearly tripled in five years, to about 2,400 in 2015, the AP reports. The virus is spread by sharing needles...

3K Need HIV Tests in Surgery Tech's Drug-Stealing Case

Rocky Allen, accused of swapping syringes at Colorado hospital, tested positive for virus

(Newser) - Another bombshell Wednesday about an ex-surgical tech at a Colorado hospital who allegedly stole liquid painkillers by swapping syringes, per federal prosecutors: He has HIV, putting thousands of former patients at risk, the Denver Post reports. Rocky Allen, 28, accused of stealing fentanyl citrate in January from Swedish Medical Center...

Officials: 12 Hepatitis Cases Linked to Heart Clinic

2,300 patients urged to get tested for hepatitis and HIV

(Newser) - Officials have investigated at least 12 cases of hepatitis linked to a heart clinic in West Virginia, the AP reports. The viruses have been linked to injectable medications given during cardiac stress tests at the Raleigh Heart Clinic. Eight patients receiving cardiac stress tests have tested positive for hepatitis C...

Hepatitis-Curing Pill Costs 250 Times More in US Than India

And that's limiting access to Americans with the disease

(Newser) - It's starting to seem like America is an expensive place to get a disease. Bloomberg reports sofosbuvir—a Hepatitis C "miracle cure"—that retails for $1,000 per pill in the US is currently going for $4.29 in India, and that price is continuing to drop....

Veterans' Health-Care Delays Get Even Worse

The VA is also facing a $3B shortfall

(Newser) - The number of veterans seeking health care but ending up on waiting lists of one month or more is 50% higher now than it was a year ago when a scandal over false records and long wait times wracked the Department of Veterans Affairs, the New York Times reports. The...

Human Breast Milk May Give You Energy—or Syphilis

Depends who you ask, but some experts think it poses serious health risks

(Newser) - Some fitness buffs , fetishists, and people with chronic illnesses believe human breast milk—apparently now a profitable, growing market—is a superfood of sorts, Sky News notes. And then there are the science experts who say that drinking the lactated liquid could infect imbibers with hepatitis (B and C), HIV,...

People Dropping $100K-Plus on Meds Triples: Report

Insurance plans paid almost 98% of the cost for biggest spenders

(Newser) - Prescription drugs are pricey: According to a report released Wednesday by benefits manager Express Scripts, more than 500,000 people in 2014 took home meds costing a total of $50,000 or more per year, while the number of big spenders who took home at least $100,000 worth of...

Insurers Panic Over $1K-a-Day Wonder Drug

Congress demands to know why Sovaldi is so expensive

(Newser) - The FDA only approved Sovaldi in December, but the hepatitis C treatment is already setting records, with as much as $10 billion in sales expected in the first year alone. And why not? It has few side effects, cures 90% of patients, and, oh yeah, costs $1,000 a day....

Hospital to Patients: We Maybe Exposed You to HIV

Bad instructions on insulin pen lead to warning letter

(Newser) - More than 4,000 people on Long Island are getting the most unwelcome kind of letter from a local hospital—a warning that they might have been inadvertently exposed to HIV. As ABC News explains, the risk is low, but it stems from improper use of an insulin pen. It...

Egypt's Military: We Secretly Cured HIV, Hepatitis C

For some reason, experts are skeptical

(Newser) - You, and pretty much every scientist in the world, may find this hard to believe, but a top Egyptian general says he has discovered a cure HIV and hepatitis C, along with a wand that can detect the latter virus from across a room. In a press conference on Sunday,...

'Definition of Evil': Lab Tech Guilty of Infecting Patients

David Kwiatkowski gets 39 years for infecting people with hepatitis C

(Newser) - A hospital lab technician in New Hampshire was sentenced today to 39 years in prison for using syringes that later infected at least 46 people with hepatitis C, ABC News reports. David Kwiatkowski, 34, admitted that he stole syringes intended for patients, injecting their anesthetic fentanyl into his arm and...

Hospital Gave False HIV+ Diagnoses: Lawsuit

Whistleblower: I've been mistreated and assaulted at work

(Newser) - Imagine being falsely diagnosed with HIV. Or told you don't have Hepatitis C after you've just tested positive. Both are allegations made by a whistleblower at King County Hospital Center in Brooklyn, Gawker reports. Lili Hutchison, a 51-year-old lab worker, has been alleging misconduct on the job for...

60 of Disgraced Dentist's Patients Have Hepatitis

Just 3,122 of 7K patients tested so far

(Newser) - An investigation into an Oklahoma dentist accused of major health violations at his clinic for years has turned up at least 60 patients with hepatitis, reports ABC News . More than 7,000 former patients of Dr. W. Scott Harrington were sent warning letters in March that Harrington had regularly re-used...

Baby Boomer? Feds Say Get Tested for Hepatitis C

Disease can lurk in the body for decades

(Newser) - An epidemic of hepatitis C is afflicting the baby boomer generation, and federal authorities will roll out a campaign this year urging everyone born between 1945 and 1965 to get tested, reports the Los Angeles Times . Roughly 75% of the estimated 3.2 million people infected are boomers, many of...

Dirty Medical Instruments a Rising Threat
 Dirty Medical 
 Instruments a 
 Rising Threat 
investigation
Feb 25, 2012 7:01 AM CST

Dirty Medical Instruments a Rising Threat

Poorly trained workers don't know how to clean them: Center for Public Integrity

(Newser) - A disturbing and dangerous trend is growing in hospitals, according to a report from the Center of Public Integrity : the use of dirty instruments leading to serious infections. The problem is showing up with "alarming regularity" and could be linked to the difficulty in cleaning modern surgical tools and...

You're More Likely to Die of Hepatitis C Than HIV

Disease now kills more people annually, and disparity is likely to grow

(Newser) - In some ways, hepatitis C is the new HIV. Thanks to widespread safe-sex campaigns, HIV and AIDS aren't the killers they once were in America. They now account for about 12,700 deaths a year, down from more than 50,000 at the mid-1990s peak, Scientific American reports. That...

Is Your Sex Life Too Active to Donate Organs?

More than one partner in year could label you as risky

(Newser) - Anyone who has had sex with two or more people in the past year could be classified as a risky organ donor even if they possess no other risk factors, according to new health guidelines proposed by the CDC. The new federal policy would flag organ donors who have not...

Doc Passed Hepatitis C to 49 Abortion Patients: Cops

Women infected with same strain Aussie doctor carried

(Newser) - An Australian doctor infected with hepatitis C passed the disease on to at least 49 patients at the abortion clinic where he worked, police say. Anesthesiologist James Peters has been charged with dozens of counts of endangering life, negligently causing serious injury, and recklessly causing serious injury, AP reports. Investigators...

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