There has been no evidence an Ottawa clinic under investigation for safety violations caused new cases of hepatitis or HIV, the City of Ottawa said in an interim report released Monday.
The report said about 90 per cent of the around 7,000 patients who got a colonoscopy or endoscopy at Dr. Christine Farazli's clinic were contacted by the city to tell them the risk.
There were cases of hepatitis B and C found, but the city said the rates (8.5 per cent showed signs of hepatitis B infection at some point in their lives, and .9 per cent showed hepatitis C) were comparable to those in the general population.
There were no positive HIV results in the 4,353 tests done.
"We have not seen any evidence of transmission from the clinic so risk is low," said Dr. Vera Etches, Ottawa's associate medical officer of health. "These rates are what you'd expect if you tested a similar number in the population."
The investigation is continuing, with more tests being done on volunteer patients to see if there are links between their infections and the procedures at Farazli's clinic.
The province has said it will cover the city's costs of these tests.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario said it found evidence of improper cleaning and infection risk at Farazli's Carling Avenue clinic in May 2011.
In October, the City of Ottawa sent out information packages to those patients treated by the doctor between April 2002 and June 2011.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Joanne Schnurr
