The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "hepatitis c" ...
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Hepatitis C: Silent Alarm
This series documented the government's numerous failures to warn the American public about hepatitis C, a disease that has infected more than 4 million people in the United States. The series found that the federal government promised repeatedly to raise a public alarm about the disease but reneged almost every time. As a result, most people with hepatitis C don't even know they have it and may be spreading it. The series also found that Congress and CDC give hepatitis C a fraction of the funding and attention they give other disease such as West Nile, that has killed several hundreds. The government promised a search to find nearly two hundred thousand patients who received infected blood transfusions before 1992, when a test was available to screen out infected blood, but four years later, the campaign had stalled. The blood industry in the 1980's delayed a screening test six years that could have prevented hepatitis C in more than 300,000 patients who received blood transfusions. the government never ordered the test even though it was aware of the seriousness of the disease.
Tags: hepatitis c; virus; AIDS; public alarm; Congress; Center for Disease Control and Prevention; HCV; funding; West Nile; infected blood transfusions; infected blood; blood industry; screening test; donated blood; CDC; CDC spending; HCV money; National Institute of Health; Health and Human Services; U.S. Food and Drug Administration; FDA's Office of Blood Research and Review; Blood Products Advisory Committee; Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability; blood banks; Community Blood Center of Kansas City; Oklahoma Blood Institute
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The Secret Sickness: Hepatitis C
The Philadelphia Inquirer investigates the incidence of Hepatitis C in New Jersey's state prisons.
Tags: Hepatitis C; New Jersey; state prisons; health
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Death on the installment plan; To die inside
Prendergast reports on flaws of the medical care system in prisons. The investigation finds that "on the average, prisoners die at a much younger age than the general population;" hepatitis C is the primary cause of death in Colorado prisons; and there is a growing number of lawsuits over "substandard care and outright neglect."
Tags: health care; Department of Corrections; hep C; inmates; penal institutions; public records; Colorado Open records Act; FOI
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The Next HIV?
Lower-profile and little feared, hepatitis C one day will kill more people than the virus that causes AIDS. A discussion of the treatment and drugs available now and those being developed.
Tags: hepatitis C; hep-C; Rebetron; Zadaxin
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The Needle and the Damage Done
This article examines the increasing number of inmates contracting Hepatitis C and what the authorities are doing about getting treatment for the criminals.
Tags: prison; inmates; disease; treatment; Hepatitis C
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I Want To Be a Fireman
A Philadelphia Magazine investigation reveals that "at least 130 of the city's 4,400 active and retired firefighters, paramedics and emergency medical technicians have hepatitis C - a blood-borne, often fatal virus that attacks the liver." The report profiles six of the Philadelphia firefighters who believe that they have contracted the deadly disease on the job. The interviewees admit that they have often been involved in childbirths and "cases with a lot of bodily fluids." The story quotes one of the sick men who blames the fire department for not providing - until recently - the rescue workers with masks or gloves. It also describes how the city has denied the claims and has refused the medical expenses of the sick firemen..
Tags: health; medical expenses; fatalities; workers compensation; hepatitis; Centers for Disease Control
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Heroin
The Orlando Sentinel reports "Heroin use in greater Orlando continues to climb far beyond experts' expectations. What once seemed dangerous experimentation by young people has evolved into a frightening level of addiction that continues to spread through the population. Law enforcement agencies have been slow to recognize the depth of the problem. Statistics have painted a less serious picture because state medical examiners' reporting procedures have virtually ignored many deaths in which heroin was a significant factor.... local investigators hadn't recognized that local addicts were shifting from snorting heroin to injecting it, a frightening sign of the growing addiction here..."
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Worker's drug use unleashed hepatitis, suits say
The Star-Telegram reports that a surgical center in Bedford, Texas hired a hepatitis-C positive, drug-addicted ex-felon with no reference or criminal background check. Narcotics were left unsecured at the facility, the addict adulterated dozens of drugs from stockpiles administered to patients. The surgical center covered up for two years the potential exposure to the virus among patients.
Tags: None