Meningitis Outbreak Continues to Scare the US

Meningitis Outbreak Continues to Scare the US

Meningitis is an infection of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms include headache, fever and nausea. Fungal meningitis is a rare form and is not contagious.

The company who is said to have produced contaminated medications was linked to an unprecedented fungal meningitis outbreak. In fact, last Saturday, mountains of scrutiny have thrown to them whether it illegally sold drugs to medical facilities, as the death toll from the disease grew to 15.

The number of cases of the disease reported 201 in 14 states including the person who died with the same disease in Indiana, as noted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state officials.

Illinois’s first case of the outbreak was found out to be from steroid injection while New Hampshire first tour confirmed cases from the outbreak. Tennessee is the worst affected state with six deaths and 52 cases followed by Michigan with three deaths and 41 cases, including one case of an infection that has not been confirmed as meningitis. As of now, there are no observed signs in the decrease of the outbreak.

As federal and state authorities twisted to restrain the outbreak, investigators were trying to find out how the medication produced by New England Compounding Center (NECC) was contaminated and whether its sprawling drug supply business complied with licensing laws.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating NECC and there have been calls from some in Congress for a criminal investigation of the company.

"FDA considers this to be one of our top priorities and we are dedicating many resources to this investigation," the agency said in a statement late on Friday.

"This outbreak began at a compounding pharmacy and the Food and Drug Administration has very limited authority over what these facilities produce," said a spokesman for the Health and Human Services Department in Washington. "We urge Congress to give FDA the authority it needs to ensure these kinds of outbreaks do not happen again."

NECC faces mounting threats from states as well. Several states are investigating the company and at least two - Michigan and Massachusetts - have said the company violated their regulations, according to a Reuters survey.

Right now, the affected areas are Tennessee, Michigan, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and New Hampshire.

Posted by George Daniels on Monday October 15 2012, 3:36 AM EST. Ref: Yahoo. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0