LAS VEGAS -- Eight more former patients at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada have tested positive for hepatitis B and C, according to one Valley physician. This revalation comes as the Southern Nevada Health District closes a sixth facility managed by the same physician.

Dr. Mike Karagiozis worked with Lab Corp. to test hundreds of people Saturday who were exposed to the virus by the Endoscopy Center. During that round of testing, Karagiozis said there were eight more people diagnosed with hepatits B and C.

These patients said they did not have hepatitis before being treated at the center, but officials have not determined if they infected from their procedures from the facility. If they are able to make that determination, it will bring the number of cases to 14.

Most of the patients tested on Saturday were culinary workers. During their testing, Karagoizis said they told physicians they had HIV while they were patients at the Endoscopy Center. This means that patients at the facility have the chance to be exposed to HIV, he said.

This news comes as a sixth medical center owned and managed by Dr. Dipak Desai was closed. Desai and partner Dr. Clifford Carol operated managed all of the closed facilities:

The Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada
Desert Shadow Endoscopy Center
Spanish Hill Surgical Center

Gasteroenterology Centers of Nevada locations:

Henderson
North Las Vegas
Suite 101B

Health officials have not said if the five other locations have exposed patients to these viruses, adding they were closed as a precautionary measure.

Officials have sent out notification letters for 40,000 patients who were exposed to the hepatitis virus by the Endoscopy Center. They are still trying to contact about 1,400 people who they do not have current addresses for.

People who were patients of the Endoscopy Center are advised to get tested for hepatitis B and C as well as HIV.

"These people are getting tested now," Brian Labus, with the Southern Nevada Health District, said. "If we have positive tests, then we will be concerned about the people that they may have been in contact with, just like we would in a normal disease investigation."

Clark County district attorney David Roger will decide if a crime has been committed some time in the near future. If Desai and Carol are convicted of being grossly negligent or reckless, they could face more than 20 years in prison.