On Tuesday, federal law-enforcement and U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials began scouring the Framingham, Massachusetts-based New England Compounding Center (NECC), which has been identified as the source of a national fungal meningitis outbreak.
So far, the epidemic has sickened 233 people in 15 states, and taken the lives of 15, according to the Center for Disease Control. Health officials have pinpointed the steroid mehtyprednisolone acetate, a medication commonly administered to relieve back pain, as the origin of the illness.
Tennessee reports 59 cases and 6 deaths, Virginia reports 35 cases and 1 death, Florida reports 12 cases and 2 deaths, Indiana reports 30 cases and 2 deaths, Maryland reports 16 cases and 1 death, Michigan reports 47 cases and 3 deaths, Idaho reports 1 case, Minnesota reports 5 cases, New Jersey reports 10 cases, North Carolina reports 2 cases, and Ohio reports 7 cases.
The Columbus Dispatach reports that U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz has confrimed that his office is "investigating allegations concerning the New England Compounding Center."
NECC is currently under investigation to determine "whether [it] violated federal laws designed to stem illegal actvity in controlled drugs," says the publication.
A full list of the Framingham, Massachusetts-based company's recalled medications can be found here.
Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light, altered mental states, fever, headache, stiff neck, hallucinations, and personality changes. Treatment usually involves prolonged courses of high dose antifungal medications through an IV line, according to the CDC. Treatment length may vary depending on the patient's immune system, lasting months in some cases.
If a baby has no appetite, is lethargic, cries when held, and exhibits the usual symptoms of fever, vomiting, light sensitivity , headaches, neck stiffness, confusion, fever, and seizure, meningitus may be at the root of the problem. Children have also been known to bring their knees closer to their bodies and bend their knecks forward in a fetal position and be unable to straighten their legs in cases of meningitis.
Meningitis is the inflammation of the brain and spine's protective membrane, known as the meninges. The CDC advises clinicians to contact any patients who received injections of any medication listed on NECC's official recall list.