ORX Proceedings 2013_Layout 1 12/6/13 11:22 AM Page 39
Inside the Deadly Las Vegas Hep C Outbreak
The lead investigator wowed the crowd — and shared some breaking news.
W
hen the largest hepatitis C outbreak in U.S. history hit
Las Vegas in 2007, Brian Labus was first on the scene.
Six years later, the senior epidemiologist at the
Southern Nevada Health District stood mere miles from
where the outbreak occurred and broke the news that
brought his investigation full circle.
"Dr. Desai received a life sentence today," he told a rapt audience, referring to
Dipak Desai, MD, co-owner of the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada. The
man at the center of the outbreak, who actually encouraged unsafe injection
practices in a misguided effort to save money and speed cases, was found guilty
of 27 charges, including second-degree murder for an infected patient's death.
Back in 2007, Mr. Labus received reports of 2 cases of acute hepatitis C. He
discovered a common link — both patients had gone to the Endoscopy Center
of Southern Nevada. A third case struck early
in 2008 as Mr. Labus discussed the first 2
cases with the CDC.
"It became pretty obvious that there
n FIRST RESPONDER
Brian Labus determined
what went wrong at the
Endoscopy Center of
Southern Nevada
in Las Vegas.
was a problem at the center because we
were investigating more cases at a single
facility in a very short period than we'd typically see in the entire county over the
course of a year," says Mr. Labus.
When observing Dr.
Desai's staff in action,
Mr. Labus saw that
they repeatedly
contaminated single-dose vials and
D E C E M B E R 2013 | S U P P L E M E N T
TO
O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E
3 9
