Former lab technician charged in New Hampshire hepatitis C outbreak

Reuters – 13 hrs ago (Reuters) - A former lab technician faces charges in connection with a hepatitis C outbreak that reportedly infected dozens of patients at a New Hampshire hospital, authorities said.

David Michael Kwiatkowski, 32, is charged with obtaining controlled substances by fraud and tampering with a consumer product, U.S. Attorney John P. Kacavas said this week.

The outbreak at the Exeter Hospital Cardiac Catheterization Unit is believed to have infected some 30 people with the disease, considered the most serious of hepatitis strains, authorities said. Hepatitis C can lead to liver cancer and cirrhosis, and kills more people each year than HIV, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

"The evidence gathered to date points irrefutably to Kwiatkowski as the source of the hepatitis C outbreak at Exeter Hospital," Kacavas said. "With his arrest, we have eliminated the menace this

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