The Food and Drug Administration has once again sounded a recall for the steroid methylprednisolone acetate, the very same anti-inflammatory medication which hosted last year's fatal fungal meningitis outbreak. While the most recent batch of contaminated injections has caused abscesses in seven patients, the Tennessee State Department of Health asserts that the contaminated materials have been contained.
"Health officials believe, in reviewing preliminary information about when the material could have been appropriately used, there is not an ongoing risk to those now needing treatments," the Health Department writes in a press release. "Because the investigation is in an early stage, staff members with all agencies are working now to gather and process information and to communicate with affected facilities and patients."
The source of the infected steroids is Main Street Family Pharmacy, LLC, a Tennessee-based compounding facility. The recall was administered to establishments in the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Kentucky, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. So far, only patients in North Carolina and Illinois have reported cases of infection.
With the cooperation of the Center for Disease Control, the FDA, the North Carolina Department of Health, and the Illinois Department of Health, the Tennessee Department of Health has only begun its investigation.
"Health officials will work closely with these facilities to investigate possible adverse events among those patients who received the suspect medication and to assist with outreach efforts to communicate with other patients," adds the press release. "It is too early to know how many additional patients, if any, may be at risk."