The deaths of two additional Livingston County residents from fungal meningitis-related symptoms have shown the nearly yearlong outbreak is far from over.
But while dangers remain, the man responsible for treating the area’s estimated 190 meningitis patients said most of them remain on the long road to recovery.
“About half our patients are off medication, though they are being monitored closely,” said Dr. David Vandenberg, who heads the meningitis clinic at Saint Joesph Mercy Hospital in Washtenaw County.
More patients are expected to go off medication in the next several weeks, Vandenberg said, as they complete their year’s worth of treatment.
But many patients remain on medication, and six patients remain hospitalized as the man-made outbreak’s one-year anniversary approaches.
Those patients require medication administered intravenously, Vandenberg said, necessitating their continued hospitalization.
Recovery is slow, and can be painful, because of the nature of fungal infections .
“They are different from bacterial infections , and the medication used is much more toxic,” Vandenberg said. “It can’t be cleaned up in a matter of days; it can take at least a year.”
No new fungal meningitis cases have been reported locally since April, Vandenberg said.
But two recent Livingston County deaths, involving a 64-year-old woman and 75-year-old man, were confirmed July 22.
A state spokeswoman said both had died of complications after developing epidural abscesses, infections caused by the contaminated steroid shots they received.
Commonly used to relieve back pain, the steroid solutions were mixed at the New England Compounding Center, a now-closed Massachusetts facility. The contaminated solutions were administered at numerous sites throughout the United States, including Michigan Pain Specialists in Genoa Township.
Health officials believe a black mold-like fungus was introduced at some point when the substances were being mixed.
The recent fatalities bring the Livingston County death toll to eight. They are among 22 Michigan residents whose deaths have been linked to the outbreak.
State health officials report 265 meningitis-related cases since the outbreak since the outbreak began in September.
There have been 61 deaths and 749 cases nationwide in that period, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.
The fungal meningitis outbreak has spurred debate, but so far no action, on the status of compounding centers, which are largely exempt from regulation under existing federal drug laws.
Compounding centers mix already-approved drugs into new compounds designed to treat specific illnesses.
Unlike the NECC, compounding centers generally mix small-scale batches of drugs.
Contact Daily Press & Argus reporter Wayne Peal at 517-548-7081 or at wpeal@gannett.com.
quoted from here
No comments:
Post a Comment