A Mineola sports medicine treatment center is one of three New York State facilities that received steroids used to relieve back pack pain that were contaminated with fungal meningitis.
Action Sports Medicine and Pain Management in Mineola issued a statement saying 17 patients who received the epidural steroid injections between Sept. 21 and 25 had been contacted and none had reported any adverse reaction to the medication.
In compliance with the recall issued for the steroid, methylprednisolone acetate, Action Sports said it had immediately withdrawn its remaining stock of the medication and sent it to the Federal Drug Administration. The steroid had been purchased from the New England Compounding Center.
The state Department of Health said the drug was distributed to three sites in New York, including Dr. Sunil Butani in Mineola, Obosa Medical Services in Mount Verno and Rochester Brain and Spine in Rochester. The health department said all three facilities had pulled the steroid medication.
The health department reported there are no confirmed or suspected cases of fungal meningitis in New York.
The Center for Disease Control said eight deaths and several cases of stroke had been reported as a result of the injections. It reported a total of 105 cases in nine states.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the New England compounding Center had voluntarily expanded its recall of the medication to include all products currently in circulation that had been distributed from its facility in Framingham, Mass.
Fungal meningitis occurs when protective membranes that cover the brain and spinal chord are infected with a fungus, the Center for Disease Control said.
The potentially contaminated injections were given beginning on May 21, 2012, according to the Center for Disease Control, which said symptoms include fever, new or worsening headache, neck stiffness, sensitivity to light, new weakness or numbness, increasing pain, and redness or swelling of the injection site.
It also said fungul meningitis is not contagious.
