Fungal Meningitis and Infection Information
In October 2012, an outbreak of fungal meningitis was reported in the United States. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) traced the outbreak to fungal contamination in three lots of medication used for epidural steroid injections. The medication was packaged and marketed by the New England Compounding Center (NECC), a compounding pharmacy in Framingham, Massachusetts. Doses from these three lots had been distributed to 75 medical facilities in 23 states, and doses had been administered to approximately 14,000 patients after May 21 and before September 24, 2012. Patients began reporting symptoms in late August, but because of the unusual nature of the infection, clinicians did not begin to realize that the cases had a common cause until late September. Infections other than meningitis were also associated with this outbreak, which spanned 19 states. As of March 10, 2013, 48 people had died and 720 were being treated for persistent fungal infections. In November 2012, it was reported that some patients recovering from meningitis were experiencing secondary infections at the injection site.]Although no cases of infection were reported to be associated with any other lots of medication, all lots of all medications distributed by NECC were recalled in separate actions by NECC and regulators. Subsequent analysis identified some contamination in other lots. — Wikipedia
From the state of New Jersey:
NJ Cases Linked to Multi-State Outbreak of Fungal Meningitis & Associated Infections
NJ Case Information as of April 24, 2013
Total Exposures: 705
Total Cases: 51
Meningitis (with or w/o) other infections: 41
Paraspinal/Spinal Infection only: 9
Joint Infection: 1
Deaths: 0
