70+ Firefighters and Paramedics Now Report Infection of Potentially Deadly Disease
Updated: Sunday, November 6, 1999 - 5:00 PM
DAVE J. IANNONE
Firehouse.Com News
AP World Wide Photos/H. Rumph, Jr.
Philadelphia firefighter Larry Edwards tests himself for hepatitis C virus in Philadelphia, Friday, Nov. 5.
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Hundreds of emergency workers in Philadelphia have now been tested for the potentially
deadly hepatitis C virus, with more than 70 current and retired members now confirmed
positive for the disease, union officials said Sunday.
"Our people are interested in saving our own people," Local 22 spokesman Les Yost said
of the organization's members who have come forward thus far as testing positive.
On Thursday and Friday of last week, firefighters and emergency medical workers
came to the union's headquarters to be educated about the disease as well as be tested.
Further testing will again take place later this week, Yost said.
On October 28, union officials announced that 23 current or retired city firefighters
and paramedics had tested positive for hepatitis C,
including one who had passed away while awaiting a liver transplant. Since then, that
number has risen to over 70.
AP World Wide Photos/H. Rumph, Jr.
Philadelphia firefighters test themselves for hepatitis C virus at the Local 22 headquarters.
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Yost said included in the new higher number are 25 recently retired personnel who have
reported they are positive.
Results of the tests take about 10 days, Yost said.
On Thursday, the Philadelphia City Council unanimously passed a resolution urging testing
of all of the city's firefighters and paramedics, the Philadelphia Daily News reported.
The bill was introduced by Council Member James Kenney, whose father was a city
firefighter.
"These are our troops on the front lines, we need to stand at their sides in the
event that this is a problem," Kenney told the Daily News.
One of the first cases of hepatitis C was that of Marcellus Hatcher, who was forced
to retire in 1997 after he ran out of sick leave, Yost said. Hatcher died in 1998
while on a waiting list for a new liver. In one of three workman's compensation cases
battled for and won by the union, the state of Pennsylvania awarded Hatcher's widow
his pension.
"It was formally considered a line of duty death," Yost said, adding that he hopes
Hatcher will be honored next year at the fallen firefighters' ceremony at the National
Fire Academy.
The union has openly criticized the fire department for not being more responsive
to what they term a potential 'epidemic'.
"The problem is there is a lot of expense while the member is alive," Yost said. "We want
our members to live a normal life."
About 40% of hepatitis C patients have a successful response to treatment.
However, most infected people are not aware that they have hepatitis C until
irreversible liver damage has occurred because hepatitis C is silent in most instances,
according to the American Liver Foundation.
Fire Commissioner Harold Hairston, a 35-year veteran, has told local media
that his office would be investigating the cases and would
make determinations based on the specific circumstances and reports from
the medical community.
Hairston told the {hiladelphia Daily News last week that the
issue was being "blown out of proportion,"
and there was no confirmed direct connection between the disease and it being contracted
while on duty. He told the paper he does not believe all personnel need to be tested.
Firefighters may have been exposed before universal precautions,
such as gloves and face masks, were commonly available and used on medical
and other incidents. The majority of those who have contracted the disease are
15-20 year veterans, Yost said.
"There are not any cases of new members [contracting the disease," Yost said. "But
we do have some much older members -- 30 or more year veterans -- who have been diagnosed."
The number of cases within the department's 2,542 current and more than 1,700 retired
members is disproportional to the average rate of infection for hepatitis C, if the
majority are confirmed to be the result of "on-duty" circumstances.
Dr. Robert T. Ball of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control,
told an IAFF symposium
earlier this year that for every 1,000 exposures, two healthcare workers typically contract the disease.
“Fire fighters, emergency medical technicians, and other first responders are at significant risk of occupationally acquiring a major bloodborne pathogen in the line of duty,” Ball said in his comments.
“As far as hepatitis C goes, it’s an old virus, newly discovered.”
Elsewhere in the U.S., government officials are taking steps to
protect and inform emergency and health
care workers, unrelated to the Philadelphia cases.
In New York on Thursday, Governor George Pataki signed Assembly Bill 8686 into law.
The legislation directs the commissioner of health to
develop educational materials on diagnosis,
treatment and prevention of hepatitis C for
health care professionals and persons at high risk for contracting hepatitis C.
