CONCORD, N.H. – Hospitals across the country recommended hepatitis C testing for some 7,900 patients last summer after a traveling medical worker was accused of infecting patients with tainted syringes in New Hampshire. But five months later, nearly half of those who may have been exposed to the liver-destroying disease in other states have yet to be tested.
David Kwiatkowski (kwiht-KOW'-skee), who has pleaded not guilty to drug charges, is accused of stealing painkillers from New Hampshire's Exeter Hospital and replacing them with syringes tainted with his blood. Thirty-two people in New Hampshire have been diagnosed with the same strain of hepatitis C he carries, along with six in Kansas, five in Maryland and one in Pennsylvania.
Hospital and public health officials told The Associated Press at least 3,700 patients haven't been tested.
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