San Francisco—A comprehensive study has yielded potentially alarming findings regarding the ease with which the hepatitis C virus (HCV) can be transferred from sterile needles and syringes into medication vials if the diaphragm is already contaminated. The study also found that common vial-cleaning practices are not enough to eliminate HCV infectivity.
The impetus for the trial was a 2014 hepatitis C outbreak at several Ontario colonoscopy clinics. Subsequent investigations pinpointed