KHQ MD ALERT: Meningitis Outbreak Linked To Two Coeur d'Alene He - Spokane, North Idaho News & Weather KHQ.com

COEUR d' ALENE, Idaho - Two Coeur d' Alene health providers are linked to the Meningitis outbreak.

The North Idaho Pain Center and Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine in Coeur d'Alene are two of 11 health care providers in Idaho asked by Idaho State Health officials to contact its patients after using medications from the New England Compound Center.

Medications from NECC are said to be the source of a national meningitis outbreak. Both Coeur d' Alene clinics tell KHQ the medications received and used from NECC were not part of the tainted medications.

A representative with the North Idaho Pain center tells KHQ, at the direction of Idaho state health officials it has sent out letters to the majority of is 700 patients notifying them of the medications used, tied to NECC. A representative with Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine also says it's in the process of sending out letters to it's 400 or so patients.              

The FDA has asked all health care providers to stop using any medications linked to NECC while it continues investigating. The North Idaho Pain Center released a statement to KHQ. You can read it in full below.             

FULL STATEMENT:

"North Idaho Pain Center has received medications in the past from New England Compounding Center, but none of the medications from the contaminated lots that are suspected to be the source of an outbreak of fungal meningitis across the country. We continue to follow the CDC and FDA recommendations for patient surveillance. It is important to remember that this type of meningitis is not contagious.

The suspected source of this outbreak is presumed to be contamination of medications from one pharmacy. The medication itself and the technique of the procedures in those patients affected are not in question. While no procedure is without risks, the risk of infection from epidural injections is still considered to be rare; on the order of 1 in 100,000. These procedures continue to provide relief for literally millions of Americans living in pain on a daily basis."