June 28, 2012
A new patient advocacy group has formed in the aftermath of a hepatitis C virus outbreak linked to the cardiac catheterization lab at Exeter Hospital. A meeting Tuesday night at Exeter Town Hall drew close to 100 people, many of them former Exeter Hospital patients who have undergone testing for HCV but have not yet heard from the state whether they are infected. According to a report by WMUR-TV, hepatitis C researcher Dr. Raymond Chung told attendees that HCV spreads very inefficiently person-to-person in the absence of blood-to-blood exposure. He further stressed that HCV infection is a condition, not a death sentence. State officials suspect that the outbreak was caused by a lab employee's misuse of drugs.