Md. Clinics That Received Meningitis-Linked Steroids Named

Maryland health officials released a list of clinics that may have dispensed steroid injections linked to a deadly outbreak of meningitis.

The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said Thursday the following clinics received shipments of steroid injections that had been linked to at least five deaths:

  • Berlin Interventional Pain Management, Berlin
  • Box Hill Surgery Center, Abingdon
  • Greenspring Surgery Center, Baltimore
  • Harford County Ambulatory Surgery Center, Edgewood
  • Maryland Pain Specialists, Towson
  • SurgCenter of Bel Air, Bel Air
  • Zion Ambulatory Center, Baltimore

Health officials said those clinics have been calling patients to inform them. Hundreds of patients are potentially at risk, the officials said.

Virginia officials have identified two clinics that received suspect injections, but have not named them. Both are in Southwest Virginia.

A Massachusetts specialty pharmacy is suspected as the source of the steroid that has been linked to an outbreak of a deadly form of meningitis. That company, the New England Compounding Center, voluntarily suspended operations Wednesday.

The center said it was working closely with the state Department of Public Health and other regulators to identify the source of infection.

The company said that immediately after it was notified about the infections it initiated a voluntary recall Sept. 26.

Health officials say the outbreak has sickened 26 people in five states who received steroid injections. Four people have died. Eighteen of the cases are in Tennessee, where a Nashville clinic received the largest shipment of the steroid from the Framingham-based company.

Three cases have been reported in Virginia, two in Maryland, two in Florida and one in North Carolina. Two of the deaths were in Tennessee; Virginia and Maryland had one each, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said.

The Massachusetts health department said it is collaborating with federal regulators and other states on the investigation. It confirmed the New England Compounding Center voluntarily surrendered its license to operate and has recalled the suspected steroid medication along with all similar medications it produced.

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