LAS VEGAS -- More Valley physicians are seeing the fallout from the hepatitis outbreak caused by the reuse of medical vials and syringes by the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada.

According to the Review-Journal, liver specialists in Las Vegas said they are seeing an increase in patients. This comes after more than 50,000 former patients of the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada were exposed to hepatitis and other blood-borne pathogens from March 2004 to January 2008.

Hepatitis C is a virus that directly affects the liver. If the chronic strain is left untreated, it can cause liver failure, potentially leading to death. It -- like hepatitis B and HIV -- is spread through bodily fluid transmission. Learn more about the disease from the CDC.

So far, eight hepatitis C cases have been linked to the Endoscopy Center and one to its sister facility, the Desert Shadow Endoscopy Center. Both facilities are closed to medical practice.

Another 80-plus cases of hepatitis B, C and HIV are thought to have been caused by the center, medical officials said.

Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Southern Nevada Health District began the investigation earlier this year. Since its inception, a total of five facilities linked to the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada through its owners, Dr. Dipak Desai, have been closed to medical practice.

Desai voluntarily stopped practicing medicine until the investigation is completed. Five nurses at the Endoscopy Center recused their licenses after the CDC came forward about the investigation.