By Marie Rosenthal
A recent CDC report found that a nurse might have infected two patients with hepatitis C virus and two with hepatitis B virus because she reused prefilled saline flush syringes in the IV lines of multiple patients, a risk factor for patient-to-patient transmission of bloodborne pathogens (MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2017;66[9]:258-260. http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6609a4).
The exposures occurred in 2015 in a Texas hospital. The Texas Department of State Health Services was