CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The former employers of a New Hampshire medical technician charged a year ago in a hepatitis C outbreak are still testing patients he might have infected, but the pace has slowed in recent months.
Hospital and public health officials tell The Associated Press that only a few hundred patients have been tested since December, and at least 3,300 of the nearly 7,900 people asked to get tested outside of New Hampshire have yet to do so.
Altogether, 47 people have been diagnosed with the same strain of hepatitis C that David Kwiatkowski carries and is accused of spreading through tainted syringes — 33 in New Hampshire, seven in Maryland, six in Kansas and one on Pennsylvania.
Kwiatkowski has pleaded not guilty to federal drug charges.