Eight patients receiving dialysis treatment at Rakuwakai Otowa Hospital in Kyoto contracted hepatitis B in August, causing five of them to be hospitalized, hospital officials said Wednesday.
The hospitalized patients are in stable condition and recovering, the officials said. The hospital and the Kyoto Municipal Government are treating the cases as in-hospital infections.
According to the hospital, a male dialysis patient who was scheduled to have an operation was given a blood test in late August and found infected with the virus.
Four other men and three women were found infected during regular checkups that were conducted around the same time on about 300 dialysis patients there. All eight are in their 50s to 70s.
The hospital alerted the city on Sept. 11 and disinfected its equipment after concluding the eight were likely infected around the same time. Evaluations of their liver functions had been normal until the end of July, it said.