Twelve patients in Rochester are undergoing testing after receiving tainted steroid medication responsible for killing seven people in other states.
The Rochester patients are among 350 that were treated for pain management at Rochester Brain and Spine in Henrietta.
“We have been able to reach all but 10 of the people involved,” says Dr. Roger Ng. He says patients received the shots between May 21st and September 26th of this year.
The steroid shots are suspected of causing a meningitis outbreak that sickened 90 people in other states. Doctors here spent the weekend calling patients to explain the symptoms.
Dr. Ng says none of the patients here has become ill, but that 12 people are undergoing additional testing which consists of drawing fluid from the spine. “All of the cases are under analysis but so results are not yet available,” he says.
Symptoms include headaches, nausea, stiff neck, and high fevers. There is an incubation period of 20 to 30 days so patients who received the vaccine in August or September may still show symptoms at a later dare.
Rochester Brain and Spine is one of three New York facilities that received the tainted steroid. The other two locations are not in the Rochester area.
As many as 13,000 people in the U.S. may have gotten the tainted steroid shots.
