FDA: One Patient Dead, Others Fall Ill After Receiving Saline Infusions
Published at
Pratchaya/iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that an investigation is ongoing into saline injections that may be linked to at least one death.
The agency says that more than 40 patients have received transfusions of Wallcur’s simulated intravenous saline products, and many of them have experienced adverse effects including fever, chills, tremors and headache. Some patients who received the products were hospitalized and one has died, though it is not known whether the death is directly related to the use of the product.
Cases have been reported in seven states — Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, New York and North Carolina.
The FDA said that the saline solution was shipped to numerous facilities in a number of states because normal intravenous saline has been in “tight supply.” The agency “has been working with manufacturers to increase supply,” it says. In the meantime, the FDA says it is “not objecting to the temporary distribution of additional IV normal saline from alternate sources.”
Healthcare providers are advised to inspect all IV saline solution bags to ensure they are not labeled Wallcur. Any of the Wallcur product should be separated from existing inventory, and potentially exposed patients should be evaluated for new or ongoing symptoms.
Follow @ABCNewsRadio
Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.