Cardiac Surgery Patients Warned About Exposure to Hepatitis B by Swansea Hospital

A hospital in Swansea has warned over 150 patients who underwent cardiac surgery at the hospital that they might have been exposed to hepatitis B virus. Administrators at the Morriston Hospital in Swansea said that there is a low risk that the patients, who were treated at the cardiothoracic unit between 11 March and 17 April, might have been exposed to the virus.

The announcement comes following the death of a patient with doctors stating that he might have caught the infection from a patient who was previously treated at the hospital. The hospital has temporarily suspended all non-emergency cardiac surgery and has sent letters to the patients requesting them to undergo blood tests to check whether they have been infected.

“Although the risk to other patients who were in the unit is low, they are being offered blood tests to rule out transmission of the virus or to enable proactive treatment if a result was positive”, the ABM University Health Board said.

Source-Medindia