BOISE, Idaho (AP) — As federal officials expand their investigation of a meningitis outbreak tied to injectable steroids made by a Massachusetts company, Idaho health officials are contacting nine clinics that recently received other injectable drugs from the company.
The Idaho Division of Public Health says the clinics are: Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center and St. Luke's Regional Medical Center in Boise, the Idaho Eye Care Center and Walker Spine and Sports Specialists in Idaho Falls, the Idaho Eye Care Center in Pocatello, St. Luke's Magic Valley Regional Medical Center in Twin Falls, the Ambulatory Surgery Center of Burley, the North Idaho Pain Center and Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine in Coeur d'Alene.
State officials are asking the clinics to contact patients who were given the medications and to report any meningitis symptoms. So far, no illnesses associated with the other injectable drugs have been confirmed.
The New England Compounding Center has recalled the epidural steroids that are linked to the fungal meningitis outbreak. Only two Idaho medical facilities — Walter Knox Memorial Hospital in Emmett and Pain Specialists of Idaho in Idaho Falls — are believed to have used the company's epidural steroids.
Nationwide, 15 people have died in the outbreak and more than 200 have been sickened by fungal meningitis, including an eastern Idaho man. State officials haven't released his name, but they say he is over the age of 60 and is responding well to treatment.
