The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is now investigating 2 other lots of steroids that were shipped from the New England Compounding Center for the Exserohilum fungus. The fungus that is believed to cause fungal meningitis is associated with grass and rotting wood and seems to attack the brain and spine aggressively.
The contaminated steroids, or methylprednisolone acetate, that were shipped by the New England Compounding Center have been causing fungal meningitis. The patients who received injected steroids for back pain are the patients who are then developing the fungal meningitis. The death toll is now up to 20 and the FDA believe that 14,000 patients may be infected.
The Outbreak has reached various states in the US including Pennsylvania, Indiana, Tennessee, New Jersey and Ohio to name a few. The FDA has stated that a few cases of peripheral infections in joints have also surfaced.
Doctors are saying that early diagnosis and treatment for fungal meningitis is crucial. A patient complaining of a headache just a week after receiving an injection of steroids for neck pain began to decline rapidly.
Read the full story here. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-rt-usa-healthmeningitis-update-2l1e8li851-20121018,0,6880044.story?page=2