Four days ago, I reported on what was news to very few people at that point in time: That a Massachusetts pharmaceutical compounding facility, the New England Compounding Center, had unknowingly distributed thousands of vials of a fungally-infected steroid commonly used to treat back and spine injuries.
Since then, the outbreak has continued to spread. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) now reports that75 medical facilities in 23 states received the contaminated steroid injections from NECC. The NECC manufactures a variety of specialty pharmaceutical products that it distributes to medical facilities around the country. Tennessee has seen the most deaths related to this defective product (six so far,) as well as the most infections (39.) In addition to the most recent death in Florida (in Marion County, where six non-fatal infections have also been reported,) deaths have been reported in Maryland, Michigan and Virginia. Confirmed cases of the disease in have occurred in Indiana, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Ohio. Other states that received the contaminated drug are California, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia.
Meningitis is a horrific, often fatal disease that causes swelling of the protective membranes of the spinal cord and the brain. It is typically caused by an infection, frequently by bacteria or a virus, but it can also be caused by less common pathogens such as fungi. Fungal meningitis is very rare and, unlike viral and bacterial meningitis, it is not contagious. Click here to learn more about it.