By

Ryan Jaslow /

CBS News/ December 27, 2012, 11:46 AM

CDC year in review: Public health in 2012

Healthcare-associated infections

generic syringes vaccine needles Getty Images
In addition to the meningitis outbreak caused by contaminated steroid injections, 2012 saw several reports of diseases caused by unsafe injection practices, such as reusing needles.

A former traveling lab technician David Kwiatkowski was accused in 2012 of being a "serial infector" of hepatitis C after using painkiller needles on himself then putting them back for use on patients of New Hampshire's Exeter Hospital.

This past summer, Colorado dentist Dr. Stephen Stein was accused of reusing needles at his oral surgery practice, potentially putting more than 10 years worth of patients at risk.

More than 150,000 patients have been impacted by unsafe injection practices since 2001; causing irreparable damage by exposing patients to bloodborne illnesses, such as hepatitis and HIV, and to life-threatening bacterial infections. The CDC routinely investigates such outbreaks and released its "One & Only Campaign" to empower patients and health care providers to insist on nothing less than safe injections -- every time, for every patient.