MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer
Updated 1:38 p.m., Thursday, October 4, 2012EW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials ramped up warnings Thursday about a Massachusetts specialty pharmacy linked to a widening outbreak of a rare kind of meningitis, urging doctors and hospitals not to use any products from the company.
Investigators this week found contamination in a sealed vial of the steroid at the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass., according to Food and Drug Administration officials.
Tests are under way to determine if it is the same fungus blamed in the outbreak that has sickened 35 people in six states. Five of them have died. All received steroid shots for back pain.
"Out of an abundance of caution, we advise all health care practitioners not to use any product" from the company, said Ilisa Bernstein, director of compliance for the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
The company recalled the steroid medication last week and has shut down operations. The recalled steroid had been shipped to facilities in 23 states since July.
The type of fungal meningitis involved is not contagious like the more common forms.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/FDA-Avoid-drugs-from-company-tied-to-meningitis-3916606.php#ixzz28Mt2uvJ6
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