Clinic raided in hepatitis outbreak

MELBOURNE, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- Australian police Saturday searched a medical clinic in Melbourne with links to a doctor suspected of infecting scores of women with hepatitis C.

Dr. James Latham Peters has been suspended from practice after 12 female patients he treated at the Croydon Day Surgery contracted the disease. Fifty-eight other women who were patients at the clinic between 2006 and 2009 have also tested positive for hepatitis C.

A witness told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. there were about 15 officers on the scene Saturday morning.

Victoria Police say Interpol has been contacted and investigators were looking at similar cases worldwide.