An area hospital and several medical practices are contacting local patients who received injectable medicines from a company linked to a nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak.
The Ohio Department of Health this week released the list of all 64 Ohio facilities — including nine in the Akron area — that purchased medications from the New England Compounding Center since May 21.
The list includes facilities that purchased any products from the company, including topical drugs that the Food and Drug Administration has indicated are “low or no-risk.”
Akron Children’s Hospital is contacting the families of 26 cerebral palsy patients who received a nerve block using an injectable medication from New England Compounding Center since May, Dr. Micah Baird, a pediatric physical medicine and rehabilitation physician at the hospital, said on Wednesday.
The patients received a drug called Phenol, which hasn’t been linked to the fungal meningitis risk, Baird said. The hospital didn’t purchase any other products from the company.
The medication is injected into peripheral nerves — not the spinal column — to treat abnormal muscle tone, so “we would not expect meningitis,” he said.
Patient families are being told to watch for signs of a local infection, such as redness, swelling at the injection site or fever, Baird said. So far, none of the patients who have been contacted have had any problems.
“We feel like the risk for these patients is very low,” he said. “We’re making sure.”
Western Reserve Surgery Center in Kent is contacting five patients who received injectable products from New England Compounding Center, administrator Laurie Simon said. However, none were the injectable steroids associated with the fungal meningitis outbreak.
“Our patients don’t have any reason for concern,” she said.
Several ophthalmology practices and eye surgery centers also are included on the list of New England Compounding Center’s local customers.
None of the cases nationwide have been linked to New England Compounding Center’s ophthalmic drugs, but the FDA said it is recommending follow-up with those patients “out of an abundance of caution.”
Vitreo Retinal Consultants in Jackson Township is contacting between 50 and 60 of its patients who received injectable products from New England Compounding Center before the products were recalled earlier this month and pulled from the practice’s supply, practice administrator Terri Mullins said.
The medications include an injectable steroid to treat diabetic eye disease and several injectable antibiotics for eye infections, Mullins said.
Vitreo Retinal Consultants has not had any patients experiencing problems related to the recalled injectables, Mullins said. “We don’t anticipate that there will be any.”
Novus Clinic, which has an eye surgery center in Tallmadge, is sending letters to patients who received an injectable medication from the company, said Dr. James. L. Johnston Jr., surgery center medical director. The number of patients hadn’t been determined as of Wednesday afternoon.
The commonly used product for eye surgeries is mixed with local anesthesia to more evenly distribute the anesthesia in the treated area, he said.
“We’re not using the steroid that was found to be tainted,” Johnston said. “There’s no reason to believe that any of our patients should have any sort of problem associated with this compounding center. … No one has reported a problem.”
John Malik, administrator of Eye Centers of Ohio in Canton, said the practice “is going to follow the state recommendations to notify our patients” if they received any of the recalled products.
Malik declined to say what medicine the practice ordered from the New England Compounding Center and how many patients may have received the medicine.
John Hirsch, a member of the governing body of St. Clare Surgery Center in Stow, said the center used one of New England Compounding Center’s topical products — drops used to dilate eyes before cataract surgery.
“We’ve followed up with all the patients who received the topical eyedrops from this particular source, and there are no reported eye infections,” he said.
Skin Care Solutions CIM had an injectable product from New England Compounding Center in stock for emergency situations but had not used any within the past two years, medical aesthetician Laura Spencer said. As a result, no patients in the practice’s main office in Wooster or its satellite location in Green received the recalled product.
Officials from two other Akron-area facilities that received the company’s recalled products — HMT Dermatology in Medina and Ohio Retina Associates in Canton — could not be reached Wednesday.
The recall from New England Compounding Center originally was limited to one steroid medication and other products injected in and around the spinal cord because they could be tainted with fungus that caused some patients to develop a rare meningitis (brain infection) or stroke. The recall later was expanded to all of the company’s products.
Outreach efforts were expanded this week after the Food and Drug Administration reported a transplant patient from another state who had received a solution made by the company during heart surgery developed a fungal infection.
“What they’re concerned about are drugs that were put into a sterile part of the body,” Ohio Department of Health spokeswoman Tessie Pollock said.
Nine Ohio residents from Crawford, Hamilton, Marion, Morrow and Warren counties have developed fungal meningitis after receiving steroid injections to treat back pain, according to the state health department. None have died.
Nationwide, 247 fungal meningitis or stroke cases plus two peripheral joint infections have been reported, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nineteen patients have died.
Symptoms of fungal meningitis, which isn’t contagious, include fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea and vomiting, sensitivity to light and altered mental status.
“Since this investigation is changing so rapidly, it’s critical that Ohioans who received these injections or solutions be informed and watch closely for any change in how they are feeling,” Dr. Ted Wymyslo, director of the Ohio Department of Health, said in a news release.
Cheryl Powell can be reached at 330-996-3902 or cpowell@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow Powell on Twitter at twitter.com/abjcherylpowell.