RMH: No Link To Meningitis
Posted: October 6, 2012
HARRISONBURG — Rockingham Memorial Hospital officials say the facility has not used a steroid injection product linked to a recent meningitis outbreak.
The Food and Drug Administration has linked the deadly fungal meningitis to the drug methylprednisolone acetate, routinely used in steroid shots for back pain.
RMH has not purchased the product from the Massachusetts pharmacy that supplied the suspected steroid solution, hospital officials said in a news release Friday. The hospital has quarantined other products from the vendor as a precaution.
The Associated Press reports that 47 people in seven states — including Virginia — have contracted fungal meningitis, and five of them had died as of early Friday.
Symptoms of meningitis include fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea, sensitivity to light and confusion.
Contact Doug Manners at 574-6293 or dmanners@dnronline.com
The Food and Drug Administration has linked the deadly fungal meningitis to the drug methylprednisolone acetate, routinely used in steroid shots for back pain.
RMH has not purchased the product from the Massachusetts pharmacy that supplied the suspected steroid solution, hospital officials said in a news release Friday. The hospital has quarantined other products from the vendor as a precaution.
The Associated Press reports that 47 people in seven states — including Virginia — have contracted fungal meningitis, and five of them had died as of early Friday.
Symptoms of meningitis include fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea, sensitivity to light and confusion.
Contact Doug Manners at 574-6293 or dmanners@dnronline.com