A Franklin County woman has been diagnosed with fungal meningitis linked to tainted steroid injections, Ohio health officials said today.
The woman, 44, is Ohio’s 10th case of the rare brain infection. State health officials on Wednesday announced a 52-year-old man from Warren County was also sickened by the infection. No details have been released about the victims in the Ohio cases.
Nationally, 257 infections and 20 deaths have been reported in 16 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Three people from other states who received the steroid injections for joint pain have also reported joint infections, according to the CDC. The agency has launched a multistate investigation of joint infections — clinically termed septic arthritis — in patients who may have received the steroid injections to treat pain in their knees, shoulders or other joints.
The CDC and the Food and Drug Administration are investigating the fungal meningitis outbreak, which has been linked to the injectable steroid medication methylprednisolone acetate prepared by the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass.
Today, the FDA announced it had confirmed the presence of the fungus Exserohilum rostratum in one lot of the medication implicated in the outbreak. In a statement, the agency said the finding “further links steroid injections from these lots from NECC to the multistate outbreak of fungal meningitis and joint infections.” Investigators identified the fungus, which matches the fungus found in patients sickened in the outbreak, in unopened vials of the steroid made by NECC.
Last week, FDA officials told reporters that its investigators had found fungus growing in steel vials used to prepare medications in the Massachusetts pharmacy.
Three lots of methylprednisolone acetate are implicated in the outbreak. The FDA said today that testing on the other two lots, as well as two other medications suspected of contamination, will continue.
The outbreak has created fear for patients and administrative headaches for providers who have been advised by federal health officials to contact patients who have received any injectable drug prepared by NECC. The company ceased operations on Oct. 3, and an Oct. 6 recalled all of its products. In Ohio, 64 providers received products from NECC, including 16 in the Dayton and Cincinnati metropolitan areas.
Fungal meningitis develops slowly, and symptoms, including fever, new or worsening headache, nausea and stiff neck, may be mild. Providers have been instructed to monitor patients who received any injectable medication from NECC for several months. The FDA has said previously that though only the methylprednisolone acetate is implicated in the outbreak, it cannot guarantee that the company’s other products are sterile.
Nationally, officials estimate the methylprednisolone acetate implicated in the outbreak was administered to some 14,000 people in 23 states, including Ohio, according to the FDA.
The outbreak has prompted demands for a criminal investigation into NECC and its practices, and calls for stricter oversight of compounding pharmacies.
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