A large number of hepatitis C cases was recorded recently in Las Vegas. All the individuals infected were former patients of the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada. The cause of the contamination was supposed to be the reuse of syringes and medicine vials.

State health officials contacted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after two people treated in the clinic were diagnosed with hepatitis C. As a result of the investigation, officials have linked 84 cases of the liver disease to the clinic after recommending that 50,000 patients of the clinic be tested.

The Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada, one of the largest with gastroenterology practices in the area, was closed and fined $500,000 after the Nevada State Health Division discovered several cases of hepatitis C that appeared to originate in the clinic earlier this year. Two of the center’s doctors, including its owner, Depak Desai, have been suspended from practicing medicine.

A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Friday officially confirms that there is no doubt about the cause of the outbreak.

The report, based on state and federal officials’ observations of patient procedures at the clinic, details a series of unsanitary practices, including nurses’ and anesthesiologists’ failing to perform basic hand hygiene when they administered intravenous medications.

The occurrence caught the attention of law enforcement authorities, including the Nevada attorney general, who are now undertaking investigations. They presume the clinic may be also guilty of fraud.