SOME SANTA ROSA COUNTY RESIDENTS MAY HAVE RECEIVED INJECTIONS WITH CONTAMINATED PAIN MANAGEMENT DRUGS
SOME SANTA ROSA COUNTY RESIDENTS MAY HAVE RECEIVED INJECTIONS WITH CONTAMINATED PAIN MANAGEMENT DRUGS
The Santa Rosa County Health Department is working with the Escambia County Health Department to contact Santa Rosa residents who may have received injections of contaminated pain management medications from Pain Consultants of West Florida. The facility is one of eight in Florida that has been identified as having received shipments from one or more of the lots of methylprednisolone acetate the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has identified as being contaminated with Aspergillus, a fungus that can cause meningitis. The product was distributed by New England Compounding Center (NECC).
In all, eight facilities in Florida were identified as having received shipments of the contaminated product. Two of the facilities, Interventional Rehab Center in Pensacola and North County Surgicenter in Palm Beach, stated that they have not used any of the medication. The other five facilities are: :
- Florida Pain Clinic, Ocala, FL
- Marion Pain Management Center, Ocala, FL
- Orlando Center for Outpatient Surgery, Orlando, FL
- Surgery Center of Ocala, Ocala, FL
- Surgical Park Center, Miami, FL
Patients who received spinal or joint injections of the steroid medication between May 21 and September 28, 2012, when the product recall was issued, are advised to contact their primary care physician to let him/her know that they may have received an injection with the contaminated product. Those who received the injections are at risk of developing fungal meningitis. The disease is not contagious, and can not be spread by person to person contact. Infected patients may begin to have symptoms approximately one to four weeks following the injection.
Symptoms that may develop after the spinal injection include:
- New or worsening headache
- Neck pain
- Nausea
- Lack of coordination
- Limb weakness
- Sleepiness
- Stiff neck
Those who received the injection in a joint may experience:
- Unusual warmth
- Swelling
- Redness
- Pain
- Fever
The Santa Rosa County Health Department is attempting to contact individuals by phone. Those who can not be reached by phone will be visited by a representative from the health department. Letters will be left at the homes of those individuals who are not contacted in person.
Residents who believe they may have received the contaminated products may call the Santa Rosa County Health Department for more information at 850-983-5200, ext. 201.
Physicians who would like more information may call Santa Rosa County Health Department Epidemiology at 850-983-5200, ext. 105.
The Florida Department of Health has also established a toll free hotline at 1-866-523-7339.
