Tagged: meningitis outbreak

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee health officials are once again alerting patients who received tainted steroid injections after finding that some have abscesses at the injection site that could lead to fungal meningitis.

Tennessee Health Commissioner John Dreyzehner announced Tuesday that since Thanksgiving officials have identified 22 new cases of these localized infections and one case of meningitis without an abscess. Two patients with the injection site infections also showed early signs of meningitis.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee health officials will start contacting hundreds of people who received steroid injections for back pain linked to a fungal meningitis outbreak to warn them about another infection.

Dr. David Reagan, chief medical officer for the Tennessee Department of Health, says the new round of calls will start next week to about 900 patients who have not developed fungal meningitis but who may be at risk for a localized infection or abscess near the injection site.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee health officials say the number of people sickened by fungal meningitis and other diseases after receiving steroid injections has risen to 70.

Yesterday, the pharmacist who co-founded the Massachusetts specialty pharmacy linked to the meningitis outbreak voluntarily surrendered his license in Tennessee.

The state pharmacy board accepted the agreement by Barry Cadden, the co-founder of New England Compounding Center, to give up his license to practice pharmacy in Tennessee. The company surrendered its license last week.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Hendersonville woman sickened by fungal meningitis after receiving a steroid injection for back pain is suing the pharmacy that supplied the drug.

On Monday, Janet Russell and her husband, Robert Russell, sued the New England Compounding Center for $15 million. The suit filed in Davidson County Circuit Court claims the pharmacy allowed the steroid to be contaminated by fungi through negligence.