(KNX 1070) -- Public health officials are trying to figure out how six patients of a health clinic in the Mid-City area of Los Angeles got acute hepatitis C infections.
It was reported Monday that a medical clinic in Mid-City Los Angeles was notifying hundreds of patients that they might have been exposed to Hepatitis C.
The warning is for people who underwent injections or other procedures at the "Westside Multispecialty Medical Group" at 6200 Wilshire Boulevard.
The clinic operators have agreed to close down while an investigation into the outbreak continues, according to the county.
Health officials said they are urging anyone who received injections or infusions or who underwent procedures at the clinic between January 2016 and December 2018 to get tested for hepatitis C. The patients are also being urged to get tested for hepatitis B and HIV, which can also be spread through contact with blood.
According to the public health department, six of the clinic's patients have been diagnosed with hepatitis C, although the exact method of transmission has not been determined. The patients all underwent procedures at the clinic and did not report any other form of blood-to-blood contact.
Dr. Sharon Balter, head of the department's Acute Communicable Disease Control Program, says it's unclear whether the clinic's infection control procedures played a role.
Balter notes other patients may have contracted the virus but have no symptoms.