Crime & Safety

Fungal Meningitis Outbreak Linked to Pharmacy Grows

Federal representatives reaching out to patients who may have had injections.

Representative from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other government and state agencies across America are trying to reach every patient who may have had a steroid injection produced by Framingham-based New England Compounding Center since July, including those who received treatment from Mineola-based Action Sports Medicine and Pain Management.

Steroids produced by the specialty pharmacy have been linked to a national meningitis outbreak.

The New England Compounding Center made 17,676 possibly meningitis-infected steroids. They issued a voluntary recall of the product on September 26.

Find out what's happening in Mineolawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The steroids were shipped to 23 states. Massachusetts is not one of the states where the steroids were distributed, but New Hampshire and Rhode Island are.

Government officials, reported Sunday, 91 individuals in 9 states have been diagnosed with the fungal meningitis from the tainted epidural steroid injections.

Find out what's happening in Mineolawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

A total of 7 individuals have died from the disease.

Over the weekend, Framingham-based New England Compounding Center, voluntarily 

The fungal form of meningitis is can be difficult to diagnose because  symptoms can be vague and mild initially, including fever, headache, nausea and stiffness of the neck, according to the CDC. People with fungal meningitis can also experience dizziness and confusion. Some of the patients have suffered strokes.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut is calling for stronger government oversight of “compounding pharmacies.” Sunday, reported Fox25, the Democrat said he would be writing to U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg to ask for stricter scrutiny of such pharmacies. He said the facilities appear to operate in a “regulatory black hole” and are only marginally overseen by the FDA.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.