Hepatitis C 'Serial Infector' Could Have Spread Disease to Thousands

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The New Hampshire hospital lab technician indicted last week for infecting 31 people with Hepatitis C might have infected "tens of thousands" of patients in at least 13 hospitals, ABC News has learned.

David Kwiatkowski, a former lab technician at Exeter Hospital in New Hampshire, had allegedly been stealing syringes of the anesthetic Fentanyl intended for patients, injecting his own arm and then refilling those empty syringes with another liquid-like saline, according to a statement from the United States Attorney's Office in New Hampshire.

Since Kwiatkowski tested positive for Hepatitis C in June 2010, he passed it on to the hospital patients who were injected with his used, saline-filled syringes, according to the affidavit.

"If he knew that he was infected and he put those needles back on the shelf, that is the definition of evil," Dr. Richard Besser, ABC News' Chief Health and Medical Editor, told Good Morning America. "Anyone who was in those hospitals when he was working there is potentially at risk. We're talking tens of thousands of people."

Kwiatskowski, 32, was a temporary employee at Exeter Hospital who has worked in at least eight hospitals in 13 states, Besser said.

Exeter Hospital issued a press release this week, indicating that the state Department of Health and Human Services and its Division of Public Health Services have decided to expand Hepatitis C testing to anyone who was a patient in one of the hospital operating rooms or the intensive care unit. Government health officials are urging about 6,000 patients to get tested in Exeter Hospital alone, according to the release.

"You go under and you wake up hours later and you don't know who was around you," a former patient told The Boston Herald on condition of anonymity this week. "I'm scared. I have no idea who was around me when I was under and unfortunately, I was there three different times."

Kwiatkowski was arrested and indicted on July 19 for allegedly acquiring a controlled substance by fraud and tampering with a consumer product with "reckless disregard" for the risk of others, according to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire.

[Raph589]

What's with people and wanting to give their disease to everyone through siringues these past few months?

[Five Second Pose]

What's with people and wanting to give their disease to everyone through siringues these past few months?

Are you sure you're not just thinking of the plot of Batman : Arkham City?

[Flonne]

What's with people and wanting to give their disease to everyone through siringues these past few months?

It's not a new thing. There are entire forums dedicated to it, they call themselves "poz's" and their main goal in life is to infect people, willing or unwilling, with whatever they may have. Hell, some of them even try to contract new diseases for fun.

People are pineappleed up, nothing new.

[Kurtle]

The fact he got away with this for as long as he did is ridiculous. I work in a lab and all of our chemicals are checked weekly and we quality check almost every day so it'd be near impossible to pull this off.

[Seanny]

It's not a new thing. There are entire forums dedicated to it, they call themselves "poz's" and their main goal in life is to infect people, willing or unwilling, with whatever they may have. Hell, some of them even try to contract new diseases for fun.

People are pineappleed up, nothing new.

... the fact that this is even a THING makes me want to flip a table from a skyscraper.

[Moonlapse]

Hell, some of them even try to contract new diseases for fun.

Spicing up the ol' pathogenic microbial flora, eh? Still not a good idea.

[ImagineAll]

People are pineappleed up, nothing new.

The irony is overwhelming.

[Dystopiq]

I don't take injections unless I see it in a secured and sealed package. Of course that might not stop anything, but hey, love the peace of mind.

[Duelman]

This article makes me nauseous. Ewwwwwwww.