Clinic in China Infects Kids with Hepatitis

[_eh]

Source: TIME

(BEIJING) — Dirty needles at a private clinic have been blamed for an outbreak of hepatitis C among kids in central China, underscoring the challenges of policing healthcare as clinics mushroom to meet growing demand.

State media reported Tuesday that reuse of needles at a private clinic in Henan province's Maqiao township spread hepatitis C to at least 13 people, including many children.

In the 1990s, Henan province was rocked by unsanitary blood plasma-buying schemes and tainted blood transfusions that allowed HIV to gain a foothold. Operators often used dirty needles, and people selling plasma — the liquid in blood — received replenishment from a pooled blood supply.(See more on violence in Chinese hospitals.)

The Global Times newspaper said that health officials in Henan's neighboring province of Anhui reported that as many as 56 people may have been infected with hepatitis C at the clinic.



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2100448,00.html

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Lord help me, but, when I read the headline, I thought perhaps the kids had been deliberately infected!

[alp227]

1. Andrew Wakefield: "SEE? I told ya that vaccines are dangerous!"

[RandySF]

2. WTF is up with all these stories about private enterprises?

Just a few weeks ago, there was a story about a bus from a private kindergarten crashing and killing a bunch of kids. You would think a country like China has a better system of regulations than this.

[Ilsa]

4. You have to wonder if the clinic owner will get the death sentence

for his/her negligence and for not promoting better safety and health practices.

[leftyohiolib]

3. I thought perhaps the kids had been deliberately infected. they are!

when you reuse needles you are deliberately infecting people. china is one sick fuck of a nation but hey look at the low low prices at wal-mart

[saras]

5. Yep. We can no longer pretend that this sort of deliberate, willful ignorance is "accidental"

If you're going to stick needles in people, you learn to do it right, and you do it right. It's NOT complicated.