A judge was asked Tuesday to move the trial involving one of scores of lawsuits resulting from a massive hepatitis outbreak in Fremont.

Attorneys for Doctor Tahir Javed and nurse Linda Prochaska requested a change of venue because of all the publicity in the case.

The suit was filed by the family of Cheryl Gentry, who died in March after allegedly contracting hepatitis C at Javed's former clinic in Fremont.

Dodge County District Judge John Samson did not indicate when he would rule on the request.

Javed is accused of using unsanitary practices that caused 99 people to contract the disease between March 2000 and December 2001.

The Fremont outbreak is believed to have been the largest of its kind in the nation, and perhaps the world.

At least 81 lawsuits have been filed against Javed.

Javed left the country for his native Pakistan around the time when the first hepatitis cases were detected.

The state revoked Javed's medical license.

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How You Can Contract Hepatitis C

• Injecting street drugs, as the needles and/or other drug "works" used to prepare or inject the drug(s) may have had someone else's blood that contained HCV on them.

• Receiving blood, blood products, or solid organs from a donor whose blood contained HCV.

• Being on long-term kidney dialysis as you may have unknowingly shared supplies/equipment that had someone else's blood on them.

• Being a healthcare worker who had frequent contact with blood on the job, especially accidental needlesticks.

• Having a mother who had hepatitis C at the time she gave birth to you. During the birth her blood may have gotten into your body.

• Having sex with a person infected with HCV.

• Living with someone who was infected with HCV and shared items such as razors or toothbrushes that might have had his/her blood on them.

Source: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hepatitis/c/faq.htm#1b (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).