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Tenn. Health Officials Warn Of Local Infection

Tennessee health officials will start contacting hundreds of people who received steroid injections for back pain from a pharmacy linked to a fungal meningitis outbreak to warn them about another infection.

Dr. David Reagan, chief medical officer for the Tennessee Department of Health, said Wednesday the new round of calls will start next week to about 900 patients who have not developed fungal meningitis but who may be at risk for a localized infection or abscess near the injection site.

In Tennessee, 84 patients have developed fungal meningitis and 13 people have died after receiving injections from Massachusetts-based compounding pharmacy New England Compounding Center. Nationally, 490 patients have been sickened and 34 have died.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has previously warned that some patients who received injections from NECC developed abscesses or soft tissue infections, but the number of those infections has been increasing as the number of new meningitis cases decline.

"We are seeing more patients without meningitis come in with the infections," Reagan said.

In Tennessee, 49 patients have developed the localized infections, most of whom have also had fungal meningitis. Fungal meningitis is not contagious.

Reagan said they do not want people do not overlook the symptoms, which include back pain or loss of bowel or bladder control. The infections can be diagnosed with an MRI and are treated with anti-fungal medications, he said.

This program aired on November 21, 2012. The audio for this program is not available.

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