KIRKLEES women could be among more than 2,000 who have been warned they could have contracted hepatitis C after being treated by a gynaecologist suffering from the virus.
Patients from 25 hospitals - including those run by the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust which covers the Dewsbury and Wakefield areas - were contacted by the Health Protection Agency yesterday and told of the scare.
Royal Oldham Hospital is also named on the list of centres involved in the scare.
Women were told they might be at risk of infection and were asked to take a blood test to make sure they were safe.
The infected doctor, who worked in obstetrics and gynaecology in several hospitals, did not know he or she had the virus, which can lead to liver disease.
The doctor was immediately transferred to a healthcare area where patients were not at risk.
Although hepatitis C does not often reveal symptoms, the virus can cause abdominal pain and jaundice, and in rare cases can lead to chronic liver disease.
In even rarer cases it can cause cancer of the liver.
