The Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center has requested the assistance of the New Hampshire State Attorney General's office in the investigation of an unusual bacterial outbreak that occurred at the medical center last year.
Both the state epidemiologist and the Center for Disease Control investigated the outbreak of shigella bacteria -- a highly infectious form of bacteria which can cause diarrhea and dehydration -- for a period of three weeks in Oct. 1997. The infections occurred in the microbiology laboratory and affected only the laboratory staff.
The final report from the investigation identified the origin of five out of the seven infections as an error in laboratory procedure, but the cause of two of the infections is still unconfirmed.
The DHMC is currently conducting an internal investigation through their insurance agency, American International Group.
George Packard of the DHMC public affairs office said that, based upon a discussion with the person conducting the internal review and the results of the CDC report, the attorney general's office "decided that they would get involved to help with the process of trying to determine the cause of the infections."
The final report for the internal investigation is not yet available, Packard said.
The attorney general's office began conducting interviews about the bacterial outbreak as of late last week, he said.
The CDC recommended the DHMC seek the assistance of outside authorities because they could not conclude the breakout was unintentional -- but the decision to have an investigation by the attorney general's office was only made recently.
Meetings between the medical center and the attorney general's office have been taking place since the fall, according to Dr. Jesse Greenblatt of the state epidemiologist's office.
"I facilitated a meeting at the request of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center to [meet] with the attorney general's office to discuss the ... specifics of the investigation," Greenblatt said.
Packard also said the DHMC has been in contact with the attorney general's office for the duration of the investigation.
Greenblatt said he believes the DHMC has taken all the right steps in conducting a thorough investigation.
"My feeling is the Dartmouth-Hitchcock administration all along has been cooperating to resolve the issue as best as possible," he said.
