The pharmacy at the centre of a deadly U.S. meningitis outbreak, possibly linked to tainted steroid injections, faced mounting federal and state scrutiny on Thursday, including a potential criminal investigation, as the death toll climbed to 14. As many as 14,000 people - 1,000 more than previously thought - received injections from suspect shipments of steroid treatments produced by the Framingham, Massachusetts-based New England Compounding Center. The centre is known as NECC.
The outbreak has developed into a major health scandal, with authorities scrambling to determine how the steroid treatments were contaminated, track down those affected and treat them.
A woman in Minnesota on Thursday became the first apparent victim of tainted steroid to sue NECC. The suit filed in U.S. District Court said Barbe Puro of Savage, Minnesota, suffered "bodily harm, emotional distress and other personal injuries" after being injected on Sept. 17. Representatives of the company did not immediately respond to emails and phone calls seeking comment on the suit.
The outbreak raised questions about how the pharmaceuticals industry operates.
NECC engaged in a practice called drug compounding that is not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which generally oversees drug makers.
Massachusetts State Attorney General Martha Coakley announced an investigation of NECC's operations after state health officials said the company appeared to have violated licensing requirements that limited compounding activities to single prescriptions.
Meningitis is an infection of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms include headache, fever and nausea.
Fungal meningitis, unlike viral and bacterial meningitis, is not contagious.
Health authorities said more than 50 vials of the steroid had so far been confirmed as contaminated, with more tests under way.
