IT IS A VIRUS THAT DOES NOT SPREAD EASILY
(1) It is not airborne.
(2) It cannot be spread through social contact, sharing of utensils or drinking from the same glass or through food or water.
(3) It is generally transmitted by blood or blood products.
WHY CHANCES OF SPREAD THROUGH CONTAMINATED BLOOD IS VERY MINUSCULE
Not only does the blood bank take great care, but also
(1) not all the infected patients had a blood transfusion.
(2) They were from different blood groups, and would not be receiving blood from the same donor.
WHY SPREAD THROUGH DIALYSIS MACHINE IS RULED OUT
(1) Infected patients had used different machines, and
(2) other patients using those machines were not infected.
WHY THE HOSPITAL CANNOT CONFIRM IF CAUSE IS MULTI-DOSING
With one vial shared by about three patients, in order to infect more than 20 patients, a fairly large number of vials would need to be contaminated.
Nevertheless the hospital has removed multi-dosing as an extra precaution.
Investigations are ongoing and SGH is not ruling out any possibility including foul play.
Meanwhile, liver specialist Dr Desmond Wai was surprised that at least four people are suspected to have died within months of being infected with hepatitis C.
Reason:
The Hepatitis C virus is not a virus that kills quickly. For healthy people it would take at least 20 years to cause liver damage. For those with a weakened immune system - such as kidney failure patients it would take at least 5 to 10 years to develop severe liver damage, according to liver specialist Dr Desmond Wai.
The only exception, he said, is a rare and aggressive strain of the virus known as fibrosing cholestatic hepatitis C.
"But this is very rare," he stressed. "In more than 20 years of practice, I've seen only two cases."
"Frankly speaking, this disease does not kill," he said. "We need to wait for more information from the Ministry of Health before we know what is going on."
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