Sunday, October 7, 2012

Epidural steroid shots debated amid meningitis scare

2:50 PM, Oct 6, 2012   

Duane Marsteller, The Tennessean
October 6. 2012 - NASHVILLE -- As authorities continue to focus on a potentially contaminated steroid as the source of a widening outbreak of fungal meningitis, some patient-safety advocates are calling for greater restrictions on the type of injection involved.
They say epidural steroid injections, like the ones given to the meningitis victims, are far too dangerous and should be limited or even banned. But those who give the injections say they are safe when done properly and note the current outbreak appears to have originated from the medicine, not the procedure itself.
The debate was being waged long before the meningitis outbreak began with the Sept. 17 death of a 78-year-old man in Nashville. Since then, at least 46 other people in Tennessee and six more states have come down with the rare and noncontagious infection, federal health officials said Friday. Five, including three in Tennessee, have died.
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