Salon.com > meningitis

Dr. Eben Alexander’s so-called afterlife

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 16:00:00 +0000

In 2008, Dr. Eben Alexander contracted a rare form of bacterial meningitis that, according to his account, shut down his neocortex, the seat of human consciousness. The near-death odyssey that followed was, he writes, “perhaps one of the most convincing such cases in modern history.” At the end of it, he could declare, “I didn’t just believe in God; I knew God.” No mere intimation of immortality, Dr. Alexander’s memoir carries the audacious title "Proof of Heaven" and, at time of writing, it bestrides the New York Times best-seller lists like a Colossus. When he fell ill, he was a brain surgeon, but he has given that up to pursue something more worthy of his talents, namely to “break the back of the last efforts of reductive science to tell the world that the material realm is all there is.”

Romney’s lax regulation may have fueled meningitis outbreak

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 11:45:00 +0000

The fatal meningitis epidemic sweeping the United States can now be traced to the failure of then-Gov. Mitt Romney to adequately regulate the Massachusetts pharmaceutical company that is being blamed for the deaths.

At least 344 people in 18 states have been infected by the growing public health crisis and 25 have died so far.

But the epidemic may also play a role in the presidential campaign, now that state records reveal that a Massachusetts regulatory agency found that the New England Compounding Co., the pharmaceutical company tied to the epidemic, repeatedly failed to meet accepted standards in 2004 — but a reprimand was withdrawn by the Romney administration in apparent deference to the company’s business interests.

“It goes all the way up to Mitt Romney,” said Alyson Oliver, a Michigan attorney representing victims of the outbreak. According to Oliver, on at least six occasions, NECC was cited by authorities for failure to meet regulatory standards and almost subjected to a three-year probation. “It goes directly to the heart of what Romney says about regulation, ‘Hands off. Let the companies do their thing.’”

Before meningitis outbreak, pharmacy avoided sanctions

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 16:50:00 +0000

BOSTON (AP) — New state documents detail problems found in 2006 by an outside firm hired to do an assessment at the company at the center of a deadly meningitis outbreak.

The state documents, obtained by The Associated Press under a public records request, say investigators in 2006 found inadequate contamination control and no written standard operating procedures for using equipment, among other problems, at the New England Compounding Center. The problems were corrected that year, and a state inspection in May 2011 as the company prepared to update its facilities found no such issues.

The outbreak of meningitis, an inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord, has sickened nearly 300 people, including 23 who died, in more than a dozen states. Each victim had received a steroid shot, mostly for back pain. Federal health officials matched the shots produced by the company to the outbreak after finding a deadly fungus in more than 50 unopened vials there but have not said how the shots were contaminated.

A congressional committee on Monday sought a decade's worth of records from the company.

Meningitis death toll rises

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 11:58:00 +0000

NEW YORK — Four more people have died in the national meningitis outbreak, bringing the death toll to 19, health officials said Wednesday.

The deaths are among the 247 people in 15 states sickened in the outbreak. They all received shots of an apparently contaminated steroid medication made by a Massachusetts specialty pharmacy.

Most of the patients contracted a rare fungal form of meningitis, after getting the shots for back pain over the past few months. Two developed infections from joint injections.

Of the latest deaths, two were in Tennessee and one each was reported in Florida and in Virginia, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday. That brings deaths to eight in Tennessee; three in Florida and Michigan, two in Indiana and Virginia, and one in Maryland.

Test results so far show infections with three kinds of fungus, most of them a form of black mold, the CDC said. Of 42 patients, 40 were infected with Exserohilum fungus. The others were infected with Aspergillus or Cladosporium. All are treated with the same anti-fungal medications.

Three lots of the suspect steroid were recalled last month by the New England Compounding Center of Framingham, Mass. All the illnesses have been traced to one of those lots.

Meningitis outbreak shows why we need regulation

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 20:50:00 +0000

If the Democrats needed an opportunity to show voters what a deregulated market really looks like, the New England Compounding Center, the company responsible for the current meningitis outbreak, has served one up.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Framingham, Mass., center made as many as “17,676 potentially tainted steroid injections, which were then shipped to 75 clinics in 23 states.” So far 14 people have died and 170 have fallen ill from the contaminated shots. The questions on everybody’s mind now are: How could this happen? And where was the Food and Drug Administration, the federal agency that's supposed to oversee the pharmaceutical industry?

How could it happen? Simple: There are almost no laws regulating pharmaceutical compounding, the process of making made-to-order prescriptions tailored to the unique needs of individual clients. This process used to take place on a small scale. But in the past 20 years, changes in the pharmaceuticals market allowed compounding to explode into a new industry of below-the-radar, unregulated mass drug production.

Compounding the meningitis outbreak

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 22:21:00 +0000

Imagine my surprise when I heard about Vegas Mixx, the latest club drug being promoted in Las Vegas. Marketing materials described it as a combination of Valium, to relax the mind, and Viagra, to stimulate the, well, you know. Vegas Mixx promised to make users perform “Like a Porn Star.”

I’m no medical expert, but this didn’t sound like a good idea. Valium, a controlled substance, can have serious side effects. And Viagra, well, warnings about erections lasting longer than four hours should give anyone pause.

Was it legal? When I was a reporter at the Las Vegas Sun, the guys running the local compounding pharmacy that made Vegas Mixx had no problem telling me they were just trying to make a buck. They claimed it was legal. And indeed, the pharmacy never was disciplined by the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy. They only stopped producing the drug because it wasn’t profitable.

Vegas Mixx turned out to be a bust. But it highlighted an evolution in the drug compounding industry, which has come under intense scrutiny after steroids produced by a Massachusetts company were linked to 12 fungal meningitis deaths and 137 infections in 10 states. The New England Compounding Center, which made the injectable steroids linked to the outbreak, acted more like a drug manufacturer than a traditional compounding pharmacy, said David Miller, executive vice president and CEO of the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacies.

Today’s news in pictures

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 21:38:00 +0000

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Rick Scott’s phone sex mishap

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 16:05:00 +0000

During a meeting of Florida's cabinet, Rick Scott thought he was giving out the number for a meningitis hotline, meant to be a response to a recent outbreak in the state, but he was actually giving out the number for an "adult" hotline.

The incorrect number was also posted on the Florida Department of Health website.

From the Broward Palm Beach New-Times:

"The screw-up was first noticed by an alert reader who notified public radio WUSF, who then called the governor's office. The Florida Department of Health quickly corrected the mistake and posted the right number.

But for a while there, anyone who wanted to get pertinent information about the meningitis outbreak got an automated message that said 'Hello, boys; thank you for calling me on my anniversary' and then directed them to a menu of naughty options."

Scott is in good company: During his own term as governor, Charlie Crist's office accidentally posted a number that directed parents to "hot, horny girls" instead of the Florida KidCare hotline. Tim Pawlenty has also made the same mistake.

Meningitis outbreak toll: 119 cases, 11 deaths

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 18:46:00 +0000

NEW YORK (AP) — The number of people sickened by a deadly meningitis outbreak has now reached 119 cases, including 11 deaths.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated the count on Tuesday.

New Jersey is the tenth state to report at least one illness. The other states involved in the outbreak are Tennessee, Michigan, Virginia, Indiana, Florida, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina and Ohio.

Officials have tied the outbreak of rare fungal meningitis to steroid shots for back pain. The steroid was made by a specialty pharmacy in Massachusetts. At least one contaminated vial was found at the company.

The company recalled the steroid that was sent to clinics in 23 states, and later recalled everything it makes.

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Online:

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/HAI/outbreaks/meningitis.html

Steroid-related meningitis cases rise to 47

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 22:05:00 +0000

NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials have identified about 75 medical clinics across the country to help track down patients who got steroid shots linked to a deadly meningitis outbreak.

The tally from the outbreak rose to nearly 50 cases and spread to a seventh state, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. The number of deaths from the rare fungal meningitis remained at five.

A seventh state, Michigan, was added to the list with four cases. Tennessee's cases now total 29; Virginia, six; Indiana, 3; two each in Maryland and Florida and one in North Carolina.

Looking for a source of the outbreak, investigators have focused on a steroid made by a specialty pharmacy, New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass. The steroid shots were used for back pain, a highly common treatment.

Health inspectors found fungus in at least one sealed vial of the steroid at the company's facility this week and were doing tests to identify the fungus. On Friday, officials said they have found two types of fungus in nine sick patients — Aspergillus and Exserohilum.