Box Butte General Hospital (BBGH) Nurse Anesthetist Chuck Frisch, CRNA, DNP, DAAPM, CH, reports that patients who have received (or are scheduled to receive) epidural pain blocks at BBGH have no cause for worry in regard to news reports about the recent meningitis outbreak following epidural pain blocks.

“The steroids we use for epidural pain blocks are not manufactured by the company involved in the recall,” Mr. Frisch said. “Anyone who has received an epidural pain block at BBGH or is scheduled for the procedure has no reason to be concerned.”

According to the Society for Pain Practice Management (SPPM), it is believed that all infected patients received an injection with preservative-free methylprednisolone (80mg/ml) manufactured by New England Compounding Center, located in Framingham, MA.

SPPM reports the Massachusetts company had shipped the implicated product to 23 states. Nebraska is not on the list.

According to a recent update on the meningitis outbreak from the SPPM, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been coordinating a multistate investigation of meningitis among patients who received epidural steroid injections (medication injected into the spine). In several patients, the meningitis was found to be caused by a fungus that is common in the environment but rarely causes meningitis. Fungal meningitis occurs when the protective membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord are infected with a fungus. Fungal meningitis can develop after a fungus spreads through the bloodstream from somewhere else in the body, as a result of the fungus being introduced directly into the central nervous system, or by direct extension from an infected body site next to the central nervous system.

Anyone who has recently received (or is scheduled for) an epidural pain block at BBGH who still has a concern is welcome to contact Mr. Frisch at 308.762.6660.

— Brian Kuhn, BBGH Marketing