Recalled Heparin Injections implicated in sickening dialysis patients
Late January Baxter Healthcare Corp. voluntarily recalled thousands of pre-filled heparin injections because of questionable sterility and reports of adverse allergic events in dialysis patients. More that 50 dialysis patients in 12 states have had an allergic reaction in relation to the recalled batches of the blood thinner according federal health officials. The cases are being called the largest national outbreak of treatment-related allergic reactions ever seen in dialysis patients. The cases were reported at 19 dialysis facilities in California, Florida, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Another 36 reports of allergic reactions are under investigation by the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC officials are also looking into allergic-type reactions in seven cardiac patients in North Carolina who got Baxter-made heparin as well as looking into four cardiac cases in Florida, including one patient who died. Kidney patients receive heparin to prevent clotting of blood during the dialysis process. Allergic-type reactions occurred within minutes of starting dialysis, CDC officials said. The symptoms included facial swelling, nausea, rapid heart beat and decreased blood pressure. Baxter officials announced that some of these reactions may be severe or life threatening.
