Hundreds may still be untested for hepatitis C

DENVER (AP) - Hundreds of people who may have been exposed to hepatitis C through dirty syringes may not have been tested for the disease yet.

A surgery technician with hepatitis C, Kristen Parker, pleaded guilty last month to stealing the painkiller fentanyl and then refilling the contaminated needles with saline solution. Hospitals where she worked set out to test about 5,700 patients to see if they may have contracted the liver disease from the syringes.

Parker worked first at Rose Medical Center in Denver and then at Audubon Surgery Center in Colorado Springs.

Rose Medical Center is still looking to test or get test results for 375 patients. Audubon hasn't been able to reach 57 patients.

Some of those Rose patients have refused to be tested or have been tested by their own doctors but have not shared the results with the hospital.

Test results so far show a total of 15 patients contracted hepatitis C from Parker. All of those patients were from Rose Medical Center.

Another 66 people were found to have the disease but they didn't get it from Parker, according to genetic tests. Of those, 50 were patients at Rose and 16 were from Audubon Surgery Center in Colorado Springs.

For more on this story, visit The Denver Post.