9:48 PM, Nov 3, 2012
One is a common black mold that likes to
feast on bread. Another is pigmented yeast that can live in the air, soil and
water. A third is a fungus, usually found in soil and on plants, that thrives in
warm and humid climates.
All seemingly different, yet they share
one thing in common: They were in supposedly sterile medications prepared by the
specialty pharmacy linked to a nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak that has
sickened 404 and killed 29, including 12 in Tennessee.
So far, lab tests have found three types
of fungus and 10 bacterial strains in unopened medicines that New England
Compounding Center produced in its Framingham, Mass., facility. And more
contaminants likely will be discovered as the impacts of the facility’s
unsterile conditions become clearer, experts said.
“Those findings are not surprising, given
how appalling the conditions were when those drugs were being made,” said Dr.
Michael Carome of Public Citizen, a nonprofit advocacy group. “It would be
surprising if they don’t find more contaminants.”
However, scientists may never be able to
unravel exactly how the drugs became contaminated.
Three fungi confirmed
Federal health officials believe three
NECC-produced lots of preservative-free methylprednisolone acetate (MPA), a
corticosteroid that’s often injected to relieve pain, are responsible for the
outbreak. All of the victims received shots in their backs or joints from those
lots.
Those lots, as well as every NECC-made
product on the market, have been recalled and now are being spot-tested for
sterility.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and the Federal Drug Administration say their labs have found three
kinds of fungus in unopened MPA vials from two of those suspect lots:
• Exserohilum rostratum, which likes soils
and plants in warm, damp conditions.
• Rhizopus stolonifer, a common black
bread mold.
• Rhodotorula laryngis, a yeast that can
be found just about anywhere in the environment.
Test results from the third lot have not
been made public, but the CDC said the other results “strengthen the link
between preservative-free MPA vials and the outbreak.”
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