(WASHINGTON, DC) -- -U.S. Senator Kay Hagan sought answers from top regulators Thursday during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing, which examined the recent fungal meningitis outbreak. Hagan, a member of the HELP Committee. Senators questioned regulators to understand how they failed to prevent the spread, which has led to 32 deaths nationwide, including one North Carolina woman.

"In my home state of North Carolina, we had three cases, including Elwina Shaw," Hagan said in her prepared remarks for the hearing. "Just 52 days after the injection to relieve her back pain, Elwina passed away of fungal meningitis. Today was her birthday. She would have been 78 years old. I tell Elwina's story in part to make sure we keep her at the forefront of our mind, so that we are committed to acting, and doing what's necessary to make sure that something like this never happens again."

Last month, Hagan and her colleagues on the HELP Committee sent bipartisan letters to the New England Compounding Center (NECC), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Massachusetts Board of Pharmacy seeking answers to the cause of the outbreak.  The operator of the center used his Fifth Amendment right not to answer questions for risk of self-incrimination.

Hagan questioned FDA Commissioner Dr. Peggy Hamburg, Dr. Beth Bell of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Dr. Lauren Smith of the Department of Public Health in Boston to find out how large quantities of contaminated drugs were distributed throughout the country..