FDA Announces Recall of Alcohol Prep Pads, Swabs, Swabsticks

Posted Atnews.nurse.com

Healthcare professionals and consumers should stop using all alcohol prep pads, alcohol swabs and alcohol swabsticks manufactured by Triad Group and sold under private labels at the consumer level, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA and Triad Group announced a recall of the products Friday. The recall stems from concerns about possible contamination with Bacillus cereus. The FDA states that using contaminated products could lead to life-threatening infections, especially for surgical patients and those with compromised immune systems. The recall encompasses products marked as “STERILE,” as well as non-sterile products.

The recalled lots are available for purchase in retail pharmacies in boxes of 100 individually-packaged packets. The affected lots list either Triad Group as the manufacturer or the name of one of the following third parties on their packaging: Cardinal Health, PSS Select, VersaPro, Boca/Utilet, Moore Medical, Walgreens, CVS or Conzellin.

Full refunds are available to anyone who returns the recalled products. The FDA says healthcare professionals and patients should report adverse events or side effects related to the use of these products to the FDA’s MedWatch Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program at www.fda.gov/MedWatch/report.htm.

A Triad Group news release states: “This recall has been initiated due to concerns from a customer about potential contamination of the products with an objectionable organism. We are, out of an abundance of caution, recalling these lots to ensure that we are not the source of these contamination issues.”

Jan 10, 2011