States now seeing a second wave of cases with clinical manifestations other than meningitis
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has identified a 13th patient with an infection following treatment with contaminated injectable steroids from the New England Compounding Center (NECC) of Massachusetts. The patient is a female in her 20s and not currently hospitalized. Her infection is consistent with osteomyelitis, an infection that occurs inside the bone. One previous Minnesota case also had an infection of the bone.
Infected fluid collections, or abscesses, occurring at the site where patients received the contaminated injection have also been identified in a number of cases in other states.
Health department officials are continuing to encourage patients who received contaminated steroid and have persistent symptoms to see their health care providers. Health officials are also advising health care providers who are seeing patients who received the contaminated NECC product to have a low threshold for further evaluation of patients that may include imaging to look for infections in the bone or abscesses.
-MDH-