Congressional Committee Holds Hearing to Investigate Causes of Fungal Meningitis Outbreak

November 14, 2012 2:22 PM Topics: Compounding and Contamination

The United States House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing today, November 14, 2012, to hear testimony regarding the multi-state outbreak of fungal meningitis that has been linked to contaminated methylprednisolone acetate injections compounded by the New England Compounding Center (NECC) of Framingham, MA. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, MD, will testify at the hearing titled, “The Fungal Meningitis Outbreak: Could It Have Been Prevented.” In addition, the owner of NECC has been served a subpoena requiring him to testify. A Web cast of the hearing will be available on the US House Energy and Commerce Committee Web site.

As of November 9, 2012, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that there are 438 cases of fungal meningitis, including 32 deaths, and 10 cases of peripheral joint infections. Of the 438 cases, a total of 128 have occurred in Michigan, 81 in Tennessee, 52 in Indiana, and 50 in Virginia, with the other 127 spread across Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Texas.