Via CIDRAP, a report by Lisa Schnirring: Fungal meningitis cases soar; death toll reaches 8. Click through for the full report and a lot of useful links. Excerpt:
The number of patients sickened in a fungal meningitis outbreak linked to steroid injections for back pain more than doubled over the weekend, with 105 infections reported so far, including 3 more deaths, raising the toll to 8, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in a health alert.
Minnesota and Ohio reported their first cases, raising the number of affected states to nine. The three new deaths included two patients from Michigan and one from Tennessee. The CDC had reported 47 cases with 5 deaths on Oct 5.
The identification of the new cases follows the Oct 5 CDC release of a list of 75 healthcare facilities in 23 states that received the contaminated products, which include three lots of preservative-free methylprednisolone acetate prepared by New England Compounding Center (NECC) in Framingham, Mass. Pain clinics use the drug for injections in and around the spinal cord.
The infections are not contagious, but some of them have been severe, and some patients have suffered strokes, the CDC said. Some other patients' symptoms were very mild.
