The practice was closed in early April after national, state and local agencies discovered unsafe practices that potentially exposed patients to bloodborne illnesses like hepatitis B and C and HIV.
As of May 4, a total of 248 tests on former patients of Allen Thomashefsky, MD, have been reported. A new case of hepatitis C was identified, and seven total patients have tested positive for the infection. Of those, six are believed to be a new diagnosis, and one was a prior, existing infection, according to the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department.
The SBCPHD urges all patients who were treated at the office of Dr. Thomashefsky to be tested, as the infection control breaches at the office were witnessed over multiple days.
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