Miles Memorial Hospital staff made phone calls and sent out follow-up letters last week to 58people who received an injectable medication manufactured by the New England Compounding Center during eye surgery at the hospital.

The New England Compounding Center is the Massachusetts specialty pharmacy that produced the contaminated steroid drug that has been implicated in an outbreak of fungal meningitis that has sickened more than 300 people and killed at least 24 nationwide.

The drug used at Miles, Hylauronidase, is not believed to be contaminated and has not been linked to any illness. Hylauronidase is an enzyme that is given with an anesthetic during eye surgery to numb the eye. All of the patients who received the drug underwent cataract surgery.

The phone calls and letters are a precaution to ensure that patients who received the drug know to immediately call their physician if they do experience any unusual symptoms, such as swelling around the eye, pain or inflammation, said Russell Mack, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Lincoln County Healthcare.

Cases involving contaminated drugs like those from the New England Compounding Center are extremely rare. Dr. Mack said he can’t remember another similar case in his career of more than 30 years.