Health officials have found no additional cases of hepatitis B among people treated at a free dental clinic in West Virginia last year, according to a story in the Herald-Mail.
In June 2009, the United Way of the Eastern Panhandle and Healthy Smiles West Virginia provided free medical screenings and dental services to more than 1,100 patients at a Mission of Mercy dental clinic in Hedgesville. Some 719 volunteers provided those services.
In November 2009, five cases of acute hepatitis B were reported to local health departments in West Virginia. Two of the individuals were volunteers at the clinic, and three were clinic patients who each had an extraction. One volunteer worked with patients, and the other had contact with equipment. Investigation of these cases did not reveal any other common exposures or risk factors.
All five individuals have now recovered, and no additional cases of hepatitis B have been found since the cluster of infections surfaced, according to officials.
Health investigators found no evidence that hepatitis C or HIV were transmitted at the clinic, but all patients and volunteers were encouraged to be tested for those viruses as a precaution.
About 350 people who were at the Mission of Mercy event have so far been tested, and others continue to come in for follow-up testing, according to Berkeley County Health Department Administrator Bill Kearns.
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