Thousands Await Testing for Hepatitis by ‘Infector’
Source: NYT
Thousands of former patients at a New Hampshire hospital must wait at least another week to learn if they were infected with hepatitis C through syringes used by a traveling medical technician now known as the “serial infector.”
Testing will be delayed as officials continue to try to develop an orderly process that will allow patients from the Exeter Hospital to be tested quickly and without having to wait too long in line, said Dr. José Montero, director of the state health department’s division of public health.
“Several groups are working on the approach,” he said in an interview on Wednesday. He said that he hoped to announce a plan by the end of this week and that testing could begin next week.
The New Hampshire health department announced last month that it intended to test more than 3,400 people who had been hospitalized while the technician, David Kwiatkowski, 32, who is believed to have contracted the disease at least two years ago, was working at Exeter Hospital, and it planned to set up mass clinics last weekend at the local high school. Mr. Kwiatkowski was charged with federal drug crimes last month, accused of stealing drugs and injecting himself with syringes that were later used on patients.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/02/us/thousands-await-testing-for-hepatitis-by-serial-infector.html
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Pain is transient. Hep C is forever. 
