HEFEI- Health authorities are investigating an outbreak of Hepatitis C in east and central China in which the reuse of needles by an unlicensed doctor is suspected as the cause.

A group of experts dispatched by the Ministry of Health are tracing the outbreak in Anhui and Henan provinces after more than 100 people in two neighboring townships were found infected with the  Hepatitis C virus, according to provincial health officials.

Guocheng County of Anhui has reported 76 infection cases, while 104 people in Yongcheng City in Henan have also tested positive for the virus in a preliminary screening.

Investigators are focusing on an unlicensed village clinic doctor in Maqiao Township of Yongcheng who is suspected of having caused the outbreak by reusing needles.

Residents said Wu Wenyi, the clinic doctor, seldom changed needles, and he is known as the "miracle doctor" for his ability to alleviate patients' fever and diarrhea through injections and a few tablets.

"He always gives injections in private and nobody knows the prescription. And he will curse if anyone reminds him to change the used needles," an anonymous resident said.

Guoyang County People's Hospital has screened more than 1,000 locals since November 17, said Niu Chuanxi, head of the hospital's examination department.

Feng Lizhong, a spokesman with the Anhui Provincial Health Department, said that further investigations are still needed to determine if Wu's clinic was the infection source.

"We can make such a conclusion only when we find that the virus samples from the carriers are of the same strain as those taken from the needles or drugs in Wu's clinic," he added.

The county government of Guoyang is considering offering medical subsidies to the patients, said an official.

Hepatitis C is mainly transmitted through contact with infected blood. It can also spread through sex and from mother to baby during delivery. The infection may lead to liver cancer.