Federal health officials said Thursday that they found a vial of an injectable steroid contaminated with fungus at a Framingham pharmacy, strengthening suspicions that it is the source of a widening nationwide outbreak of a rare meningitis that has infected dozens of people.
The discovery led the government to expand a recall of the steroid to include all injectable spinal drugs made by New England Compounding Center and to urge health care providers across the country to immediately discard all products from the company out of “an abundance of caution.’’
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“The question we are asking is why would a clinic in Nashville, Tennessee, or one in Virginia buy something or obtain a medication from a Boston-based pharmacy, when I can tell you in the state of Tennessee, I have several sterile, accredited compounding pharmacies, same thing in North Carolina, and same thing in Florida,” Miller said. “It’s one of the stumpers.” Cost, or limited availability?