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Friday, October 5, 2012

Meningitis outbreak under investigation.


The AP (10/2, Loller) reports that "a cluster of meningitis cases that left two people dead in Nashville is under investigation by the Tennessee Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention." The article says that "according to the Department of Health, 11 patients who had lumbar epidural steroid injections at Nashville's Saint Thomas Outpatient Neurosurgery Center have come down with the disease." Curtis Allen, a spokesman for the CDC, "said there also has been a case in North Carolina in someone who received the same type of injection," the AP adds.
        The New York Times (10/2, A19, Grady, Subscription Publication) reports that "doctors think the infections were caused by contamination of the steroid with the fungus, known as aspergillus." It adds that "one lot of the medication has been recalled, and more than 700 patients who received the shots at the Nashville clinic, which has closed, have been notified."
        Meanwhile, the Nashville (TN) Business Journal (10/2, Snyder, Subscription Publication) reports that "the patients' form of meningitis is not transmitted from person to person." Citing a news release, the article said that "the Saint Thomas Outpatient Neurosurgery Center has been closed since Sept. 20, and 'will not reopen until (the Tennessee Department of Health, Centers for Disease Control) and the center are confident the current concerns have been resolved.'"
        The Tennessean (10/2, Tamburin, Wilemon) reports TDH Commissioner Dr. John Dreyzehner said that "about 737 patients who received the same injection at the center during that window have been alerted and examined." According to the article, "Dreyzehner said epidural steroid injections are a common, safe way to alleviate lower-back pain." Dreyzehner said that "this is a very, very unusual event," adding, "this is not a complication that would be expected in the normal course of things."

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