Federal officials recommended Wednesday that Alaska health care providers contact more than 840 of their patients in connection with materials from a Masschusetts pharmacy implicated in a deadly multi-state meningitis outbreak.
According to a statement from the Department of Health and Social Services’ Section of Epidemiology, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration made the recommendations over concerns about the sterility of injectable drugs from compounding pharmacy NECC. The suspect compounds, which facilities have received since May 21, are used in connection with procedures including eye and spine surgery.
DHSS spokesperson Greg Wilkinson says some 214 invasive fungal infections have been reported in 15 states as a part of the outbreak, with 15 deaths reported. No cases have been identified in Alaska.
“Out of an abundance of caution, FDA is advising health care facilities nationwide to contact patients who received any injectable drugs produced and distributed by NECC after May 21, 2012, and instruct them to contact a health care provider immediately if they experience any symptoms of fungal infection,” DHSS officials wrote Wednesday.
The three largest groups of patients recommended for contact include 650 patients at the Alaska Spine Center, 170 patients at the Alaska Surgery Center and 20 patients at the Surgery Center of Fairbanks. The FDA recommended contacting fewer than five patients each at the Alaska Center for Facial Plastic Surgery, the Alaska Spine Institute Surgery Center and the Alaska VA Healthcare System.
DHSS says most of the Alaska Surgery Center patients received ophthalmic solution made by NECC before eye surgery, and that the FDA isn’t recommending that facilities contact patients who received drugs delivered prior to May 21.
NECC has posted a complete list of the recalled materials online, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have posted a list of frequently asked questions about the incident for patients.
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