Five diagnosed after being treated by disgraced Notts dentist

The dentist was put under investigation last because of poor hygiene procedures, including a failure to wash dental instruments between patients.

It was thought up to 22,000 patients from across the county could have been at risk from disease because of the working methods at his practice in Gedling.

The NHS has tested more than 4,500 patients, with five being diagnosed with hepatitis C - although it is not possible to identify how or when it was transmitted.

Symptoms of the disease include tiredness, sore muscles, joint pain, fever, nausea or poor appetite, itchy skin and dark urine.

Most people with an acute hepatitis C infection do not show signs, but if symptoms do occur, they usually appear within two weeks to six months after being exposed to the virus.

There is no vaccine, but there are now very effective treatments which can cure up to 80 per cent of those infected depending on the strain of the virus they have.