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description: An outbreak of fungal meningitis has left dozens dead, and it all began at a compounding pharmacy in Massachusetts. TIME Explains.
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# TIME Explains: What Started The Meningitis Outbreak?

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<!-- video src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/3aIRp4rE.m3u8" -->
## Video: TIME Explains: What Started The Meningitis Outbreak?

[Watch (HLS stream): TIME Explains: What Started The Meningitis Outbreak?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/3aIRp4rE.m3u8) (1:47)

![TIME Explains: What Started The Meningitis Outbreak?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/3aIRp4rE/poster.jpg?width=720)

_Published 2012-10-22. An outbreak of fungal meningitis has left dozens dead, and it all began at a compounding pharmacy in Massachusetts. TIME Explains._


---

Jul 27, 2023 3:28 PM UTC

---

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### TIME Explains: Meningitis Scares

---


## Transcript

An outbreak of meningitis cases has raised serious questions about compounding pharmacies. Here's what you need to know. [ MUSIC ] Rare cases of fungal meningitis that has taken several hundred and left more than a dozen dead have been traced to tainted steroid injections made by a Massachusetts company. The company is what's called a compounding pharmacy. Rather than making products on an industrial scale for the mass market, they focus on making custom made prescriptions for individual patients, much like Apothecaries used to do for centuries. So a compounding pharmacist for example, might take a pill and turn it into a cream for someone who can't take the pill form.

Or they may remove preservatives, allergens like lactose, or dyes and flavorings. Another reason that compounded products are popular, because of drug shortages. So when pharmaceutical companies decide to either stop manufacturing a medicine or temporally shut down production. Doctors and patients will turn to compounded product. This is what happened with the steroid shots called Methylpreddnisolone, that where made by a Massachusetts company. These were stocked in hospitals and clinics and doctors offices and in most cases the doctors and patients didn't know they were using compounded products.

Because compounded drugs are not approved by the FDA, they're not regulated for safety and quality. Because of the meningitis cases though, Congress is now investigating the way that compounded products are made and whether more regulations are needed to ensure their safety and quality. [ SOUND ]

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