(Photo: CBS)BALTIMORE (WBOC/AP)- Several Maryland medical facilities are contacting their patients who may have received injections of a tainted drug that has sickened 35 people in six states, including five who died.
The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene says seven clinics around the state received possibly tainted drugs from a specialty pharmacy in Massachusetts that issued a recall last week and has shut down operations. One person died in Maryland and another person is ill.
Health officials say the outbreak is linked to steroid injections, mostly for back pain.
Officials said the facilities that have received and pulled from use the affected product are:
- Berlin Interventional Pain Management in Berlin
- Box Hill Surgery Center in Abingdon
- Greenspring Surgery Center in Baltimore
- Harford County Ambulatory Surgery Center in Edgewood
- Maryland Pain Specialists in Towson
- SurgCenter of Bel Air in Bel Air
- Zion Ambulatory Center in Baltimore.
The DHMH said it has contacted all of the facilities where implicated lots of this product were distributed to ensure removal of the product and to facilitate notification of patients potentially exposed from July 30 to Sept. 28.
Symptoms of meningitis can include but are not limited to fever, headache, neck stiffness, photophobia, nausea, or vomiting. Stroke symptoms can include but are not limited to double vision, slurred speech, weakness on one side of the body, or difficulty walking.
Patients who have received a spinal injection at one of the aforementioned facilities from July 30 to Sept. 28 and are experiencing new symptoms consistent with meningitis or stroke should contact their healthcare providers.
