New Information Tonight in Outbreak of Meningitis in Middle Tennessee

The Meningitis outbreak is growing in Tennessee and becoming more deadly across the country. There are now 26 cases in 5 states of what’s believed to be Fungal Meningitis. That includes 5 new patients in Tennessee and 2 new deaths out of state for an outbreak that’s already killed 2 people here. Daniel Clayton’s law firm is now representing 2 of Tennessee’s 18 Meningitis victims.”They don’t want other families going through the living nightmare they’re currently going through,” says Clayton.The medical investigation has yet to provide his clients with a cause, but a leading theory is focusing on the New England Compounding Center. The Massachusetts pharmacy prepared steroid medication every victim so far received in an injection to help treat pain. Medical investigators believe it’s possible a mold contaminated those injections before they were given to patients at medical facilities like St. Thomas Outpatient Center. Vanderbilt Medical Center’s Dr. William Schaffner says compounding pharmacies like this one get their name because they alter drugs for a specific need, but they aren’t regulated by the FDA in the same manner drug companies are. We did some checking and discovered 3 of the pharmacies’ licenses have been voluntarily surrendered and the company has a history of complaints. A 2006 letter from the FDA listed 3 concerns, including mixing an anesthetic officials believed created public health risks. Health officials have yet to determine if it was a mistake here …