Hepatitis cases at New Hampshire hospital grow to 27

The number of lawsuits against New Hampshire’s Exeter Hospital is continuing to rise along with the number of cases of people found to be infected with the liver disease.

As of the beginning of the month, almost 60 former patients of the hospital had filed suit against the hospital.

Of those at least 47 patients have signed on to a class-action lawsuit, as well as 12 others who have each filed individual lawsuits.

As of Tuesday 27 people had tested positive for the blood-borne viral infection. Officials suspect a worker’s misuse of drugs led to the outbreak.

All the infected patients had connections to the hospital’s cardiac catheterization laboratory.

Foster’s Daily Democrat says some of the new plaintiffs include an 82-year-old Exeter father and a 67-year-old Kingston man.