[Dr. Smith]

NEW YORK (AP) — As many as 13,000 people received steroid shots suspected in a national meningitis outbreak, health officials said Monday. But it's not clear how many are in danger.

Officials don't how many of the shots may have been contaminated with meningitis-causing fungus. And the figure includes not only those who got them in the back for pain — who are most at risk — but also those who got the shots in other places, like knees and shoulders.

Read rest of story...

Also, Google: Pharmacy linked to outbreak issues wide recall

I hope no-one here has been affected.

Doc

[Gracemary]

still wanting to give injections? If u refuse.....they look at u...like you are a weirdo. I read so much on line. No needles in my neck. They will not help me. Any suggestions what I can tell these Pm Doctors that I do nt want them.

[Dubious]

Originally Posted by Dr. Smith

NEW YORK (AP) — As many as 13,000 people received steroid shots suspected in a national meningitis outbreak, health officials said Monday. But it's not clear how many are in danger.

Officials don't how many of the shots may have been contaminated with meningitis-causing fungus. And the figure includes not only those who got them in the back for pain — who are most at risk — but also those who got the shots in other places, like knees and shoulders.

Read rest of story...

Also, Google: Pharmacy linked to outbreak issues wide recall

I hope no-one here has been affected.

Doc

Truly a sad story. I've followed it as well and while I have no first hand knowlege that any doses were or were not used for multiple regions of the body, I've not seen anywhere in the press that any of those doses were used for anything but "low back" patients.

It is quite conceivable that this product could have been used across the board for neck, knees, shoulders, etc., but such has not been the stated case in the (objective?) press! Perhaps it is a different dose/product for those regions? It is not surprising unfortunately, with all of the recent attacks on health care and pressure on manufactures/providers to curtail costs. Right or wrong, it would not surprise me if money is also cut from QC as well!

I wish the best for all of the unfortunate victims!

[Leesa]

I'm really surprised that more of us haven't had trouble with steroid injections, as anything that is iinjected into the spinal canal can cause infections and big problems. That's one reason that I refused to have any more, besides the fact that they weren't workiing. The doc wanted to try more of them, but I said NO> He didn't particularly like that, but i didn't particularly care.

From what I read, it could also cause arachnoiditis too, which is an incurable condition!!

I just hope everyone is ok. God bless & take care. Hugs, Lee

[Dr. Smith]

Originally Posted by Dubious

It is quite conceivable that this product could have been used across the board for neck, knees, shoulders, etc., but such has not been the stated case in the (objective?) press! Perhaps it is a different dose/product for those regions?

Well... it was just stated so in the NY Times, by AP, and many other credible outlets, as can be seen by googling the headline. All articles I've seen have said that all the contaminated injections came from the same compounding pharmacy in MA, and were distributed throughout the other states mentioned.

I didn't know that compounding pharmacies were in that kind of mass-production/distribution business.

Doc

[mrsD]

This is a generic product. The brand name is by Pfizer and called SoluMedrol. SoluMedrol comes in dry form, with a diluent to add on the spot...I would think this minimizes contamination. Their system is very complex, to reconstitute as well. This generic product is premixed...and that may be a problem.

Sometimes injectables are in short supply, and compounding pharmacies can take up that slack.
If you knew how fastidious it has to be to make infusions, and injectables, you'd understand the problem. The FDA has been after compounding pharmacies for a long time, and this time it looks like something will be done. There are many home infusion places that make chemo injectables, and other things as well.
With a product like this, it could be
1) contaminated raw product (the steroid powder).
2) contaminated ampoules used to put the drug into
3) poor hood maintenance and/or air flow and filter problems
4) sloppy technique, or not following protocols.
You can be sure all will be looked at minutely now.

With epidurals there is another problem. Sometimes the doctor can nick or penetrate the dura by accident. If you search "epidurals" you find the rate of these errors. With this type of contamination, a dura puncture is very serious.

Steroids suppress the immune system giving the fungus more opportunity to become more virulent.

It is a very terrible situation, with several levels of potential
error, and blame.

[mrsD]

This is a list of all the recalled products:

http://www.neccrx.com/List_of_all_pr...nuary_2012.pdf

[Dubious]

Originally Posted by Dr. Smith

Well... it was just stated so in the NY Times, by AP, and many other credible outlets, as can be seen by googling the headline. All articles I've seen have said that all the contaminated injections came from the same compounding pharmacy in MA, and were distributed throughout the other states mentioned.

I didn't know that compounding pharmacies were in that kind of mass-production/distribution business.

Doc

True doc, it would be interesting to know if the product was used for other regions of the body too! The whole thing is so sad.

[mrsD]

We'll find out eventually.... it will take some time.

Injecting into a joint space is also dangerous with less virulent
organisms like this fungus because there is little immune protection in the joint capsule interior, there too.

I hate to be a doomsday person, but I worked a short contract in home infusion, and I would never work full time in that capacity. I was very relieved to leave.
All one needs is a couple of disgruntled employees and you would faint if you saw what I saw where I worked --and that was almost a decade ago!

NECC is listed on the net as having 60 employees! Very difficult to supervise that many IMO. Typically only a very small number are licensed pharmacists at home infusion or compounding pharmacies.
There are licensed infusion technicians.

It could very well be that things like this were going on for a while and just never caught. With all the many shortages going on now in the past 2-3 yrs on so many drugs, including injectables, compounding pharmacies are filling that niche more and more.

There are frequent procedures done to test the air quality and cleanliness. They even run cultures periodically. All one needs is some mess-up at this task, and mayhem can result.

I agree it is very sad and very scary too.

[mrsD]

More disturbing news of another incident:

http://news.yahoo.com/suit-firm-prov...225304842.html