Kidney patients blame dialysis for infection with hepatitis C
By Jane Chen |
April 17, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
TEN kidney disease patients treated at a hospital in northern China said they have contracted hepatitis C during dialysis because of poor sanitation.
As a result, most of them have dropped plans for kidney transplants, the only cure for uremia.
The local health authorities said they are investigating the cause of the infection at Urad Front Banner Hospital for Women and Children in Bayannur City of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, yesterday's Inner Mongolia Morning Post reported.
The hospital's principal promised to provide free medication to the patients if the investigation confirmed they had contracted HCV at the hospital.
The first patient was diagnosed with HCV last November while the other nine were diagnosed with the infection in March, the newspaper said.
They had been receiving dialysis, the only regular treatment for uremia.
Eight had planned to undergo kidney transplants, but now have to drop the plans because HCV increases the risk of complications.
HCV, which can be transmitted through blood transfusions, can cause liver cancer.
Patients blamed poor sanitation at the hospital's dialysis unit for the infection. Some patients were sharing the dialysis machines while the nurses failed to thoroughly disinfect the facilities, they told the newspaper.
Hospital principal Zhang Lin described the infection as "scientifically unforeseen," the report said.
He said theoretically patients with a long history of dialysis or blood transfusions face higher chances of getting HCV infections.
This is the latest reported case of mass infection of hepatitis C in a Chinese hospital.
In January, six kidney patients filed lawsuits against a hospital in in northwestern China's Gansu Province, accusing it of using contaminated dialysis equipment and infecting them with hepatitis C since June.
At least 50 patients in two hospitals in Anhui Province were infected with the hepatitis C virus through dialysis between 2008 and 2009.
As a result, most of them have dropped plans for kidney transplants, the only cure for uremia.
The local health authorities said they are investigating the cause of the infection at Urad Front Banner Hospital for Women and Children in Bayannur City of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, yesterday's Inner Mongolia Morning Post reported.
The hospital's principal promised to provide free medication to the patients if the investigation confirmed they had contracted HCV at the hospital.
The first patient was diagnosed with HCV last November while the other nine were diagnosed with the infection in March, the newspaper said.
They had been receiving dialysis, the only regular treatment for uremia.
Eight had planned to undergo kidney transplants, but now have to drop the plans because HCV increases the risk of complications.
HCV, which can be transmitted through blood transfusions, can cause liver cancer.
Patients blamed poor sanitation at the hospital's dialysis unit for the infection. Some patients were sharing the dialysis machines while the nurses failed to thoroughly disinfect the facilities, they told the newspaper.
Hospital principal Zhang Lin described the infection as "scientifically unforeseen," the report said.
He said theoretically patients with a long history of dialysis or blood transfusions face higher chances of getting HCV infections.
This is the latest reported case of mass infection of hepatitis C in a Chinese hospital.
In January, six kidney patients filed lawsuits against a hospital in in northwestern China's Gansu Province, accusing it of using contaminated dialysis equipment and infecting them with hepatitis C since June.
At least 50 patients in two hospitals in Anhui Province were infected with the hepatitis C virus through dialysis between 2008 and 2009.
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