Georgia Part of Recalled Medication Linked to Nationwide Meningitis Outbreak

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that Georgia is one of 23 states with facilities which received recalled medication linked to a multi-state outbreak of meningitis following epidural steroid injection.

No illnesses have yet been reported in Georgia. To date, a total of 35 cases of meningitis linked to fungal infection have been identified in six states and five deaths have been reported. According to the CDC, several of the infected patients have had strokes related to the meningitis.

Currently puzzling researchers in the fact that the meningitis in several patients was caused by a fungus that is common in the environment, but rarely causes meningitis.

The CDC website says:

Fungal meningitis occurs when the protective membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord are infected with a fungus. Fungal meningitis can develop after a fungus spreads through the bloodstream from somewhere else in the body, as a result of the fungus being introduced directly into the central nervous system, or by direct extension from an infected body site next to the central nervous system. 

This form of meningitis is not contagious, according to the CDC.

The New England Compounding Center of Framingham, Mass., has recalled three lots consisting of a total of 17,676 single-dose vials of the steroid, preservative-free methylprednisolone acetate, according to the Huffington Post. To date, CDC is aware of infections associated only with the three lots that were recalled on September 25, 2012, reports Newport Patch in Rhode Island.

Roswell Patch has reached out to the Georgia Department of Public Health for details on the tainted medication lots that were shipped here. Check back for more information as we receive it.