One more former patient of Tulsa oral surgeon Dr. W. Scott Harrington has tested positive for hepatitis B, and officials say they're doing what they can to notify anyone else who might have been affected.
That brings the total number of patients who have tested positive for hepatitis B to five.
Seventy people have tested positive for hepatitis C, and three have tested positive for HIV, according to the Tulsa City-County Health Department.
Health officials stress that a positive test result does not mean that the patient contracted the disease at Harrington's office and that most people were probably infected elsewhere.
Harrington might have exposed about 7,000 patients to the diseases through the use of rusted, unsanitary equipment and a lack of infection control procedures.
He voluntarily stopped practicing March 20.
As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, testing results were in for 3,899 people.
After organizing Harrington's list of patients since 2007 - as far back as they go - to remove duplicates and those who have since died, health officials sent letters informing the patients about the situation and advising them to get tested, Tulsa City-County Health Department spokeswoman Kaitlin Snider said.
Some of the letters were returned because of bad addresses, and officials are working to reconcile those and make sure the patients are notified, she said.
The Health Department has also reached out to potential victims through the media and social networks, she said.
An unknown number of people have been tested by a private physicians.
A few doctors have called the Health Department to report their results, Snider said.
"We may never be able to fully capture the number of patients who get testing outside of our testing," she said.
Shannon Muchmore 918-581-8378
shannon.muchmore@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Fifth ex-patient of dentist tests positive for hepatitis B
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