One more Exeter Hospital patient diagnosed with hepatitis C

New Hampshire health officials have discovered one additional case of hepatitis C related to the outbreak at Exeter Hospital, bringing the total number of infected patients to 31. The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health Services, announced Tuesday that its public health lab has confirmed another former hospital patient is carrying the virus linked with the outbreak. All 31 patients were treated in Exeter Hospital's cardiac catheterization laboratory between Oct. 1, 2010 and May of this year. A former hospital technician is accused of spreading the disease to patients in the course of abusing stolen hospital drugs.