"Greenish black foreign matter" and other signs of contamination at the Massachusetts pharmacy blamed in a fungal meningitis outbreak are documented in a report the U.S. Federal Drug Administration released Friday.

Read the FDA's Form 483 on the New England Compounding Center (NECC) in Framingham, MA above.

Nine people in Minnesota have contracted fungal meningitis after receiving tainted steroid shots produced at NECC. Six Minnesota clinics administered the steroids: Medical Advanced Pain Specialists (MAPS) in Edina, Fridley, Shakopee and Maple Grove; and Minnesota Surgery Center (MSC) in Edina and Maple Grove.

NECC also shipped other medicines that federal agencies have so far not implicated in the outbreak to more than 100 other clinics in Minnesota, including facilities in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Burnsville, Eagan, Northfield, Shakopee, Woodbury, Inver Grove Heights, Stillwater, Maple Grove, Apple Valley, Edina, Plymouth, Fridley and other cities. 

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has asked those clinics to notify patients who may have received treatments produced at NECC.

The outbreak has infected 338 people in 18 states and has killed 25. No one in Minnesota has died. Fungal meningitis is a rare infection unrelated to the more common bacterial and viral forms of meningitis. It cannot spread person-to-person.

More:

• Framingham Patch on NECC, source of the fungal meningitis outbreak
• New York Times: F.D.A. Details Contamination at Pharmacy
• Conditions observed at New England Compounding Center facility
• Form 483 Frequently Asked Questions
• FDA: Questions and Answers on Fungal Meningitis Update
• CDC: Frequently Asked Questions on Fungal Meningitis Update