UPDATE: Tuesday, 11:15 a.m.
The Food & Drug Administration has pulled a list of healthcare facilities that it said received “suspect material” from the compounding center linked to the deadly meningitis outbreak.
The FDA posted the list on Monday, but pulled it after finding some technical problems. The FDA said the list, which contained several healthcare facilities in the Tri-Cities, was incorrect. “FDA is working to correct the list and will re-post when we are sure it is accurate,” according to the FDA’s website.
Read Wednesday's print edition of the Times-News for more details.
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Several health care facilities in the Tri-Cities region are among dozens of facilities across the state that received “suspect material” from the New England Compounding Center linked to the meningitis outbreak that has sickened nearly 300 people across the country.
At least 23 people have died nationwide, including nine in Tennessee.
According to the Tennessee Department of Health, 74 facilities in the state received the suspect material after May 21. The material includes injectable medications used in some eye and heart surgeries.
The facilities receiving the material in this region include Indian Path Medical Center in Kingsport; Franklin Woods Community Hospital, Johnson City Eye Surgery Center and Johnson City Medical Center in Johnson City; Bristol Regional Medical Center and In Shape Weight Loss in Bristol; Sycamore Shoals Hospital in Elizabethton; Laughlin Memorial Hospital and Takoma Regional Hospital in Greeneville; and Lakeway Regional Hospital in Morristown.
“While the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have concerns that some of the NECC material used in eye and heart surgeries may have contributed to health problems in some patients, thus far no patients in Tennessee have been identified as having any issues caused by those products,” according to a release issued by the Tennessee Department of Health.
Tennessee Health Commissioner John Dreyzehner, M.D., said the department “appreciates the collaboration and assistance of the many affected facilities and their caring and concern for their affected patients in addressing this national public health crisis, first identified here in Tennessee.”
“All continue to hold the patients, families and loved ones impacted in our thoughts and prayers,” Dreyzehner said. “We will continue to work with urgency to provide the best information available to patients and clinicians in the evolving situation.”
As of Monday afternoon, the TDH knew of 69 patients in the state with meningitis, epidural abscess or posterior stroke associated with epidural steroid injections or steroid injections in a major joint using products from the New England Compounding Center.
The signs and symptoms of meningitis include fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea and vomiting, sensitivity to light, and altered mental status. Symptoms for other possible infections may include signs of sepsis and/or fever, swelling, increasing pain, redness, warmth at injection site, visual changes, pain, redness or discharge from the eye, chest pain or infection in the chest.
For more information or to ask questions about the outbreak contact the Tennessee Poison Control Center at 1-800-222-1222.
To see all the facilities across the country that received the suspect NECC shipments visit www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm323431.htm.