Case Count in Outbreak Remains Elusive

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Official government estimates of the number of patients who died from a 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak have jumped by 56 percent since the first figures were issued in 2013, but many feel the number should be even higher.
In a recent press release the U.S. Justice Department reported that" more than 100" victims of the outbreak had died among the 798 who were sickened by fungus laden steroids injected into their bodies.
That compares to the official count from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which reported in 2013 that 64 victims died among 753 who were sickened.
Court documents show that in 2014 investigators from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had identified 76 deaths among 778 patients sickened by steroids from the New England Compounding Center.
Despite the disclosure officials of the U.S. Attorneys office in Boston, Mass.and the FDA have refused to provide any details about the additional deaths.
Asked to identify the states where additional outbreak deaths were discovered, a spokeswoman for the office said no further details could be provided.
The office also declined to provide the exact number of deaths among outbreak victims.
"FDA has no information to provide on this issue," said spokesman Jeremy Kahn, who referred questions back to federal prosecutors.
Many who have followed the outbreak's impact say that even the revised numbers understate the number of victims and deaths.
Terry Lewis, a Tennessee resident who has acted as an advocate for many of the outbreak victims said she knows there are victims who have not been included in the official counts.
In Tennessee more than 100 patients were sickened after being injected with contaminated NECC steroids. The CDC reported 16 deaths among Tennessee patients, but that figure has never been updated.
"I suspect there are likely a few people who died and, unfortunately the cause was never determined to be meningitis, especially if they had other serious conditions," said Bill Leader, a Nashville attorney who has represented outbreak victims and their survivors.
Mark Chalos, who also has represented outbreak victims said it was likely,"we will never have a full accounting of the casualties in this catastrophe."
The disclosure of the revised case count came following the two month trial of six former employees of NECC. The jury found five of the six guilty on charges ranging from racketeering to mail fraud and conspiracy. Two of those found guilty, Gregory Conigiliaro and Sharon Carter, have filed motions to have the verdicts overturned by U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns.
Stearns has set a Feb. 24 date for a hearing on the motions.
Conigliaro, an NECC vice president and part owner, was convicted on a charge of conspiracy to defraud the FDA. Carter was convicted on the same charge. A hearing on their motions is set for Feb. 20.
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