A spinally administered steroid has been linked to the growing meningistis outbreak which is manufactured by the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Massachusetts. Click here for more info
Health officials are warning that more people may be at risk from contaminated drugs made by a Massachusetts company linked to a growing meningitis outbreak.
The Food and Drug Administration reported on Monday that the company’s products may have also caused other types of infections in patients who have had eye operations or open-heart surgery.
The new warning is based on only two cases, and it was not known for sure whether the company’s drugs had caused the infections. Officials did not say how many people may be at risk, but the number is potentially significant, and a statement from the agency warned doctors, “The F.D.A. recognizes that some health care professionals may receive a high volume of calls from patients or be concerned about having to notify many patients as a result of today’s announcement.”
The company, the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass., has already been linked to a meningitis outbreak that has killed 15 patients and infected 199 others in 15 states. The drug implicated in that outbreak is methylprednisolone acetate, a steroid used in spinal injections for back and neck pain. The drug is believed to have been contaminated with a fungus called Exserohilum, which causes a type of meningitis that is severe but not contagious.
