Meningitis Outbreak Numbers Continue to Mount

While it's a relief to learn that the rate of new cases of fungal meningitis is slowing down, some of the people who are slowly recovering from the meningitis are developing a second infection, this one located at the epidural injection site, according to The New York Times.

While 14,000 People Worry, the CDC Updates Outbreak Statistics

Nearly 14,000 people who received epidural injections of the potentially contaminated methylprednisolone acetate in the period May 21 through Sept. 26 continue to wonder whether they will develop the fungal meningitis that has sickened more than 400 people in 19 states.

The exact number of fungal meningitis cases reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is 419, with 30 deaths having resulted.

Second Infection Can Be as Serious as Meningitis

The only certainty in the fungal meningitis outbreak of 2012 is the uncertainty as to when and how the fungal microorganisms will strike -- and even who will be the victims. Epidural abscesses, or the formation of purulent fluid around the spine near the epidural injection site, are being reported both in people successfully recovering from the fungal meningitis and in people who never developed meningitis, reported NPR.org.

Of the two spinal infections that physicians are now seeing in some of the people who received the tainted spinal injections, the epidural abscesses are the more easily and successfully treated. Arachnoiditis, an inflammation of certain tissues that surround the spine, has an uncertain prognosis, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. People who develop this infection are likely to have chronic pain and even neurological deficits such as loss of bladder control.

Physicians are having difficulty diagnosing these two infections because there are little or no signs and symptoms of infections visible to the naked eye. A second issue clouding diagnosis, that of back pain, is the very symptom for which these patients initially sought therapy.

CDC Recommendations for Those Who Received Potentially Contaminated Spinal Injections

The CDC has recommendations for those people who received epidural or paraspinal injections from one of the three lots of potentially contaminated preservative-free methlyprednisolone acetate. If you've been contacted because you received one or more of these injections, you need to continue to monitor for the symptoms of fungal meningitis. Health experts currently are unable to say with certainty when it will be safe to assume you've dodged the risk of infection.

Symptoms of fungal meningitis may appear gradually, and only one or two may be present, including worsening headache, fever, stiff neck, sensitivity to light, slurred speech and/or weakness or numbness in any part of your body. Report these symptoms to your health care provider immediately.

Smack dab in the middle of the baby boomer generation, L.L. Woodard is a proud resident of "The Red Man" state. With what he hopes is an everyman's view of life's concerns both in his state and throughout the nation, Woodard presents facts and opinions based on common-sense solutions.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/meningitis-outbreak-numbers-continue-mount-213400821.html

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