WPTF Features
2 NC Clinics Warn 100 Patients Of Tainted Steroid
(RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- About 100 patients who received steroid shots for back pain at two North Carolina clinics are being warned to look for symptoms of a rare form of meningitis linked to tainted drugs.
Officials with the state Department of Health and Human Services said Friday the patients received spinal steroid injections at High Point Surgery Center and Wilson Surgical Center in July, August and September.
High Point Regional Health System spokeswoman Tracie Blackmon says its High Point Surgery Center subsidiary has notified about 70 patients. A medical epidemiologist with the state health agency says about 30 patients of the Wilson clinic have been identified.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 35 people in six states have contracted fungal meningitis, including one in North Carolina. Five of them have died.
The same steroid in the current outbreak was also tied to five cases of a different type of fungal infection in North Carolina in September 2002. Those patients also had shots from pain clinics, and one died.
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Online:
CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/meningitis/fungal.html
Previous FDA warning: http://1.usa.gov/VAlOjm
Trade group: http://www.iacprx.org
