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DATA SHOWS VIALS INFECTED 75 NEW YORKERS WITH HEPATITIS
New York City - Misused medical vials have mistakenly infected at least 75 New Yorkers with forms of hepatitis over a three-year period, analysis from Rep. Anthony Weiner (D- Brooklyn & Queens) showed today. Rep. Weiner, a member of the House Commerce Health Subcommittee, announced he would introduce legislation to ban the use of these risky, multi-dose vials.
The mistaken transmissions of both hepatitis B and C, two viruses that attack the liver, resulted from the improper use of multi-dose vials and syringes, equipment which is intended to deliver medication more efficiently but can also transmit infected blood between patients. The infections come despite the fact that New York State mandates some of the most rigorous safety and prevention training for administering multi-dose vials in the nation.
Rep. Weiner said, “This is common sense – if equipment is leading to mistaken infections of a preventable disease, then we should pull it from the market. Period. Our focus should be on curing and preventing diseases, not mistakenly infecting New Yorkers.”
Weiner’s legislative solution follows from the recommendations of the New York State and City Departments of Health to the Food and Drug Administration, which outlined the health risks associated with these vials in a recent letter and urged the FDA to “eliminate the manufacture and distribution” of them.
The mistaken infections, recorded by the New York State and City DOHs in 2001, 2002, and 2006, were transmitted during a wide variety of medical procedures – from administering anesthesia to giving injections of vitamin B12. Basic symptoms associated with hepatitis symptoms include joint and stomach pain, tiredness and sore muscles. The DOHs used genetic testing to track the outbreaks of hepatitis.
Total Hepatitis Outbreaks: 75
Manhattan: 52
Brooklyn: 19
Queens: 4
Bronx & Staten Island: N/A
Treatments for hepatitis vary; some mild cases of hepatitis B require only rest while serious cases of hepatitis C can require treatments including a $15,000 48-week therapy or even a $280,000 procedure for a liver transplant. In fact, more than 80 percent of individuals with an untreated case of the virus develop chronic liver disease – accounting for one-third of the 1,000 liver transplants nation-wide each year.
Rep. Anthony Weiner
