Concerns over Hepatitis C in Utah; thousands in contact with infected nurse

Over 7,000 patients at a hospital in Utah are at risk to Hepatitis C after coming into contact with an infected former nurse who had a rare strain of the disease, genome 2b. Less than half have come forward to be tested, however, of those, several have tested positive for the disease, including some with genome 2b.  

Davis Hospital and Medical Center and McKay-Dee Hospital employed Elet Neilson, who has hepatitis C

Patients possibly came into contact with hepatitis C at two hospitals in Utah, where a 49-year-old nurse with the disease had worked.

Davis Hospital and Medical Center and McKay-Dee Hospital employed Elet Neilson, who has the genotype 2b strain, Fox 13 reported.

The news station reported Neilson entered a guilty plea for an attempted possession of a controlled substance misdemeanor charge.

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According to Fox 13, she was ordered to pay a fine and did not serve any jail time.

The news outlet reported 35 percent of those who received letters about free testing did so - out of 7200 people total.

January 31 is the last day for free tests.

The CDC's Dr. Angela Dunn told KUTV: 'So we don't know exactly how it happened; all we know is we have two cases that are related.

'And one of the cases is a healthcare provider that was working in the emergency department and fired for using medications illegally.'

Referring to one patient with hepatitis C who was a blood donor, Dunn told the CBS station: 'This person had no risk factors, so we looked into his medical history and identified his visit at the McKay-Dee medical center as his only risk factor.

'And then having been treated by this healthcare provider who also had hepatitis C and was diverting drugs.'

Davis Hospital and Medical Center in Layton, Utah, is seen here, one of the hospitals where Neilson worked

Dunn explained to Fox 13: 'People can have no symptoms for decades and then all of the sudden their liver will start failing and that's a deadly part of the disease.

'So it's important to be identified early in the disease course when people don't have symptoms so they can get effective treatment.'

KUTV identified June 2011 - April 2014 and June 2012 - November 2014 as the exposure periods for Davis Hospital and Medical Center and Mckay-Dee Hospital, respectively.

Dunn told the Standard-Examiner: 'We do consider this an outbreak.

'When we have two or more hepatitis C-related infections, we consider it an outbreak.'

McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogen, Utah, is pictured in this Google image