Earlier this year, in an update of its guidelines on infection control, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reinforced its recommendation that providers use sterile disposable needles and syringes. It also stated that single-dose vials of medicine “are preferred” because they are much easier to keep sterile.  In an outbreak in 2002, at least 52 people treated at a pain clinic in Norman, Okla., were infected with hepatitis C after a nurse used the same needle and syringe to give drugs to many patients. In New York City earlier this year, health officials linked three cases of hepatitis C to an anesthesiologist who administered intravenous pain medication. The officials said they would notify 4,500 patients who received treatment from the doctor from December 2003 to May 2007, urging them to get tested.  They would not name the doctor and said that while the infections had come from the administration of the pain medication, they were still investigating the exact cause.  Dr. Michael Bell, associate director of infection control for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said any virus is most easily spread through the reuse of needles and syringes. But even if clean needles and syringes are used, the potent hepatitis C virus — or any other infection — could be spread if the vial itself is contaminated through handling or other avenues of exposure and then used again to medicate other patients, Dr. Bell said.  New York State health officials said yesterday they had spoken to the Centers for Disease Control several times over the past few years about making the use of medicine vials safer. They said they wanted to hold discussions also with the Food and Drug Administration.  Officials with the Food and Drug Administration said they were not aware of a federal recommendation on using single-dose vials. “There is no issue using multidose vials, if they are designed to be multidose vials, so long as sterile procedures are used to enter the vial and obtain the medication,” the agency said in a statement yesterday.  A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B4 of the New York edition with the headline: Growing Focus on Reused Medicine Vials. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
Tucked inside the tale of Long Island doctor who used unsafe infection control practices is a growing concern: the risks of transmitting diseases through vials that can be used for multiple injections.