Investigation of Meningitis Outbreak Continues; FDA Publishes List of Affected Customers

In the wake of the recent outbreak of fungal meningitis that has been linked to injections and other materials produced by the New England Compounding Center (NECC) in Framingham, Massachusetts, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released a list of healthcare providers, by state, who received products shipped from NECC on or after May 21, 2012. As a result of the ongoing investigation of the NECC facility by FDA, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and state health departments, FDA has advised providers not to use any NECC products. Additionally, FDA recommends that, “out of an abundance of caution,” providers should follow up with patients who received any injectable product or cardioplegic solution purchased from or produced by NECC after May 21, 2012. FDA provides a patient notification letter template that healthcare providers may modify to use in specific situations in which patients should be notified about one of the recalled NECC products. Patients who received recalled products should report any signs or symptoms consistent with meningitis to a healthcare provider, including new or worsening headache, fever, sensitivity to light, stiff neck, new weakness or numbness in any part of the body, slurred speech, and increased pain, redness, or swelling at an injection site.