Hundreds of patients receiving dialysis treatment at a Toronto hospital are being tested for hepatitis after at least eight of them contracted the infectious disease.
INDEPTH: Tainted blood
The Scarborough Hospital has confirmed that at least eight dialysis patients have contracted hepatitis B or C in a rare outbreak – and there may be more.
"It's quite upsetting for sure, because there are no cures for either of these viruses," said Dr. Jeffrey Zaltzman, a board member for the Kidney Foundation of Canada.
"I would assume that the majority of the patients in that unit have been vaccinated, but not necessarily."
Hepatitis is a chronic illness that can lead to liver failure. It is spread when an infected person shares blood or body fluids with another person.
Dialysis is a medical procedure conducted regularly on people whose kidneys have stopped working. It remove wastes and additional fluid from the blood circulating through the body.
None of The Scarborough Hospital's patients who have contracted hepatitis shows any symptoms. The presence of the disease was detected during routine tests.
Now all of the people receiving dialysis for kidney disease have been told not to share razors or toothbrushes with family members, and to use condoms during sex.
"We're waiting to see what the results of those re-tests will be," said Dr. Hugh Scott, the CEO of The Scarborough Hospital.
"Meanwhile, the possibility existing, however remote, that additional cases will turn up, Toronto Public Health felt that their families should know they may or may not be in contact with people who have hepatitis."
The patients who have tested positive for hepatitis are receiving their dialysis treatments on separate machines from the non-infected group of patients.