Allen County -
According to the Centers for Disease Control, the meningitis outbreak continues to rise with 170 cases and 14 deaths. The recent outbreak is a fungal meningitis tied to steroid shots for backpain. The steroids were custom-made by a New England Compounding Company Center, a specialty pharmacy in Framingham Massachusetts. Director of Pharmacy at Lima Memorial Hospital Mark Recker says the compounding facilities are not regulated by the FDA.
Recker says the state of Ohio does allow hospitals to purchase from compounding facilities, but only for patient specific prescriptions. He says Lima Memorial typically likes to go through FDA regulated channels ao mistakes like this don't happen. Although Lima's hospitals seem to be in the clear, health officials are still on the look out.
According to the Health Department, Lucas and Franklin counties are the closest areas to Lima that have received the recalled steroids.
