"Okla. says hepatitis spread at dental clinic" by Justin Juozapavicius | Associated Press, September 19, 2013
TULSA, Okla. — A dentist whose practice was shut down because his equipment was rusty and his employees reused needles was responsible for the nation’s first transmission of hepatitis C between patients in a dental office, Oklahoma health officials said.
Citing genetic testing performed at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Oklahoma’s state epidemiologist said there was at least one instance in which Dr. W. Scott Harrington’s practice spread an infectious disease.
‘‘This is the first documented report of patient-to-patient transmission of hepatitis C virus associated with a dental setting in the United States,’’ Dr. Kristy Bradley said.
Bradley said the inquiry will not be able to determine exactly how the transmission of the disease occurred.
Industry experts cautioned Wednesday against letting the case undermine the work of dentists and oral surgeons who practice safely and correctly.
State health inspectors shut down Harrington’s clinic March 28 after finding unsanitary conditions. Health officials urged tests for 7,000 of his patients to determine whether they had contracted an infectious disease. Of 4,202 tested at state clinics, 89 tested positive for hepatitis C, five for hepatitis B, and four for the virus that causes AIDS. In only one instance was it proven that the virus was contracted at a clinic.
Harrington’s attorney, James Secrest II, did not return a phone message seeking comment on the report Wednesday.
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Related: Oklahoma Dentist Office
Also see:
Court favors Abercrombie in suit over headscarf
Those women are the source of all the world's ills.
"Plea deal shines light on scope of worker’s crimes; N.H. hospital worker had jobs in 8 states before being caught in Hepatitis C outbreak" by Patricia Wen and Sarah Schweitzer | Globe Staff, August 14, 2013
CONCORD, N.H. — For more than a decade, David M. Kwiatkowski hid a dangerous drug-stealing tactic that spanned eight states and infected dozens with Hepatitis C, court documents say.
According to a plea agreement filed Tuesday, Kwiatkowski hopped from job to job as a traveling technician, often working in cardiac catheterization labs where he routinely stole syringes loaded with narcotics. He replaced them with syringes he had already used and refilled with saline solution — and that he had contaminated with the potentially lethal virus he acquired during years of drug abuse.
The agreement reveals the breadth of Kwiatkowski’s elaborate scheme and how hospitals failed to communicate with one another to stop him from infecting patients elsewhere; when caught or suspected of drug abuse, he simply found employment at a new hospital, the plea agreement said....
See: Worker at center of hepatitis scare enters guilty plea
Prosecutors say that the Michigan native, who ultimately worked in 19 hospitals in eight states, caused at least 45 patients, mostly in New Hampshire, to be infected with his strain of Hepatitis C. He will go to prison for 30 to 40 years, according to the plea agreement....
Some got off easier for much worse.
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Related:
Hundreds warned of hepatitis in N.H. food scare
FDA reviewing hepatitis C drugs
State cites Boston Medical Center on hepatitis
Don't Call the Boston Paramedics
"N.D. bishop exposes flock to hepatitis" by James MacPherson | Associated Press, October 26, 2013
BISMARCK, N.D. — The bishop of the Fargo Catholic Diocese exposed some parishioners at North Dakota churches in Fargo, Grand Forks, and Jamestown to the hepatitis A virus in late September and early October.
The state Health Department on Thursday issued an advisory of exposure for anyone who attended any of the five affected churches and took communion from Bishop John Folda, 52.
State immunization program manager Molly Howell said that the risk is low but that officials ‘‘felt it was important for people to know about the possible exposure.’’
State health officials say they are not sure exactly how many churchgoers might have been exposed. A church official from one affected church said about 25 people there received communion from Folda.
Diocese spokeswoman Aliceyn Magelky told the Associated Press that Folda contracted the liver disease from contaminated food while attending a conference last month in Italy for newly ordained bishops. Folda has taken time off work since Oct. 10 due to the virus, she said.
“He’s doing great,” Magelky said of Folda. “He’s moving back into his regular schedule.’”
Folda issued a statement Friday apologizing to parishioners.
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While we are in North Dakota:
"Nuclear arms expert fired amid Twitter controversy
WASHINGTON — A White House insider in the thick of negotiations over nuclear issues with Iran was fired after he was exposed as the voice of a Twitter feed that for more than two years knocked public figures and colleagues, a White House official confirmed.
Jofi Joseph, formerly the director of nuclear nonproliferation issues on the National Security Council staff, was @NatSecWonk, who took anonymous and often caustic digs at people including former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton; Ben Rhodes, the NSC spokesman; and Representative Darrell R. Issa, Republican of California and a nemesis of the administration as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Administration officials said Joseph was fired last week after he was unmasked as the Twitter account’s author.
The firing was first disclosed by the website The Daily Beast and its reporter Josh Rogin, who was one of the subjects of Joseph’s tweets.
Joseph was generally respected and popular within the White House, so his secret life took colleagues by surprise. On @NatSecWonk, which has now disappeared, he called himself a “keen observer of the foreign policy and national security scene” who “unapologetically says what everyone else only thinks.”
In that self-described spirit, Joseph made Clinton a particular target. As secretary of state in President Obama’s first term, she “had few policy goals and no wins,” he wrote.
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Related: Slow Saturday Special: Not Letting Sleeping Dogs Lie
Looks to me like the good guys are being cleared out.
Therefore, we know where any big boom will lead back to and it won't be Iran.
Back to Oklahoma (which has had its own experience with explosions):
"2 held in shootings at Tulsa festival" Associated Press, October 14, 2013
TULSA, Okla. — Gunfire left five people injured at a traditional Hmong New Year’s festival, rattling a peaceful, tight-knit community of about 4,000 in east Tulsa.
Two men were arrested in connection with the shooting, but some feared Sunday that the rampage could deter other Hmong from attending upcoming cultural celebrations, including one set for later this month.
‘‘It’s really sad because a lot of people do not feel safe to go to the other New Year’s celebrations. I know there are people who don’t want to attend that anymore,’’ said Joua Xiong, who attended Saturday’s celebration along with hundreds of other Hmong people and heard the gunfire break out. ‘‘It’s very sad because this is the only time we really get to embrace our culture and unite as one....
Haven't you seen Gran Torino?
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"Trial of Okla. couple’s murders opens" Associated Press, August 20, 2013
ALBUQUERQUE — John McCluskey was arrested wearing one of the victim’s caps. But his defense attorney Monday said prosecutors will be unable to prove that the escaped Arizona inmate shot and then incinerated a retired Oklahoma couple after they crossed paths with a trio of criminals at a highway rest area.
The government’s whole case, Michael Burt said in opening statements, hangs solely on the testimony of his two alleged accomplices: one a man who has a history of violent crimes and drug abuse, the other a woman who the defense team contends has repeatedly lied to investigators.
Burt questioned their credibility, noting they both made deals with federal prosecutors and avoided the death penalty.
It would call it into question with me, not that I would need much when it comes to federal persecutors.
‘‘Our defense is going to be the government can’t prove without a reasonable doubt that John McCluskey pulled the trigger and killed Gary and Linda Haas,’’ he said....
If the government is shit you must acquit.
Prosecutor Greg Fouratt said ‘‘unspeakable crimes’’ resulted from the tragic collision on Aug. 2, 2010, of the Oklahoma couple’s annual camping trip to Colorado with the flight of McCluskey, a fellow escapee, and an accomplice....
Fouratt said his team plans to call about 50 witnesses and jurors will be shown a few hundred exhibits, including photographs and audio and video clips. The trial is expected to last up to four months.
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Related: Ariz. convict awaits fate as jury deliberates
