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October 12, 2001

Hepatitis C scare erupts in Ashland

By the Associated Press

Teacher charged with exposing students to virus while drawing blood

BILLINGS - A substitute teacher at a public school in southeastern Montana was charged Wednesday with exposing five second-graders to the hepatitis C virus during a demonstration of drawing blood.

The felony charges allege Charles Halvorson, 55, a substitute teacher at the 70-student public school in Ashland, pricked the fingers of students with the same needle he used to puncture his own finger only moments earlier.

According to court documents, Halvorson told people that he knew he was infected with the liver disease, knew it was contagious, knew it was spread by contact with blood and knew the virus could cause serious health problems, including death.

Halvorson declined to comment Wednesday night when reached by the Billings Gazette at his Ashland residence. Ashland is on the eastern boundary of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation.

Rosebud County Attorney Michael Hayworth filed the criminal charges Wednesday afternoon and asked for a warrant for Halvorson's arrest. He faces five counts of felony criminal endangerment or five counts of misdemeanor negligent endangerment.

Halvorson was not immediately arrested and isn't considered a flight risk, the prosecutor said.

"These are very serious charges because they are very serious actions that could have serious consequences for these children," Hayworth said.

Since Oct. 2 when the needle sticking occurred, an emergency school board meeting has been held, public health officials have been brought in and counseling has been offered, said Ashland Public School Principal Pennie Rhoads.

"I've worked on nothing else, trying to help these families get all the information possible on the disease," she said. "This has been a tragedy, an unforeseen tragedy, an unbelievable tragedy."

The chances of infection of hepatitis C from needle sticks are slim, said Jim Murphy, health specialist with the Department of Public Health and Human Services in Helena.

"It would be really unlikely in the scenarios described for transmissions to occur," Murphy told the Gazette in an interview. "We would estimate they are probably under 1 percent."

The needle sticking occurred shortly after a school assembly about illegal drug and alcohol use, according to court documents. Halvorson, a veteran substitute teacher for the Ashland School, continued the discussion in the classroom. He told the second-graders he has diabetes and explained how he regulates his blood sugar through blood testing and insulin injections.

Court documents describe a scenario in which Halvorson then began demonstrating his blood testing equipment in front of the children by drawing blood from his finger with a small needle.

"(Halvorson) then pricked fingers of all five children with the same lancet he had used on himself, extracting blood from each, without changing or cleaning the lancet before or during the pricking of the respective children's fingers," the court documents state.

The school principal said all of approximately 70 students have been tested for the virus and follow-up tests have been ordered for the five exposed students. Counseling services were offered to students and family members, Rhoads said.

There is no vaccine for hepatitis C, but new drug therapies can get rid of the virus in four out of 10 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Otherwise, about 70 percent of those infected with the hepatitis C virus develop chronic liver disease.

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