Alcohol swabs and related health care products that were the subject of a recall last month due to what the manufacturer said was possible contamination have been linked, in a lawsuit, to the recent death of a 2-year-old Houston boy.
Tests showed that the boy, Harrison Kothari, died Dec. 1 of acute bacterial meningitis caused by the pathogen known as Bacillus cereus, which normally is associated with foodborne illnesses. But the victim’s parents, Sandra and Shanoop Kothari, contend that their son contracted the infection while being treated at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston with over-the-counter products manufactured by Triad Group, a Hartland, Wisc., company.
“Some or all of Triad’s alcohol prep pads, swabs and swabsticks were contaminated with Bacillus cereus,” the Kothari family alleges in a wrongful-death lawsuit against the company.
The Kotharis say they had no idea what might have caused their son’s death while being treated at the hospital. That changed, however, when Triad issued its voluntary recall last month of millions of its products due to what the company said were “concerns from a customer about potential contamination of the products with an objectionable organism, namely Bacillus cereus.” Use of contaminated pads, the recall notice said, “could lead to life-threatening infections, especially in at risk populations, including immune suppressed and surgical patients.”
“We’re confident that that’s the cause,” Shanoop Kothari told msnbc.com. “There was no other explanation that made any sort of sense.”
Harrison Kothari had surgery on Sept. 20 to remove a benign cyst from near his brain and spinal cord. He was readmitted to Children’s Memorial in November for treatment of post-operative complications. That treatment involved the use of Triad’s alcohol prep products, which, the suit alleges, were in “defective condition.”
Sandra Kothari said she worries that there may be more people injured or killed by the potentially tainted wipes and swabs, which were widely used in hospitals and sold in stores such as Walgreens and CVS. “People buy alcohol pads and they last a long time in your bathroom. They’re sitting there now,” she said.
Representatives for Triad Group did not respond to requests for comment. An FDA spokesman said the 35-year-old family firm “did everything correctly” in notifying government authorities about its product recall.
