Meningitis Outbreak

Synopsis:
A recent outbreak in meningitis has cause twelve deaths already and well over a hudred people are infected. This rare form of fungal meningitis was caused by a pain-killing steriod injection. Patients started calling in with the symptoms of meningitis about a week after receiving the injection. Deaths were reported in many states, including Tenessee, Florida, Maryland, Virginia, and Michigan; and other states with the diagnosis are Indiana, North Carolina, Minnesota, and Ohio.

Analysis:
Even though this outbreak seems pretty spread out across the Eastern U.S., the illness is not contagious as a result of it being fungal meningitis, rather than viral or bacterial. You could only be in danger if you have had the steriod injection called methylprednisolone acetate. The source of this outbreak was linked to a Massachussetts-based pharmacy called the New England Compounding Center. The NECC was quick to re-call all products released from its location in Framingham.

If you have received this particular steriod, watch out for any symptoms of the fungal meningitis. Some of these symptoms include nausea, stiff neck, dizziness, confusion, and sensitivity to bright lights. Doctors say that a patient could experience only a couple of these symptoms, so better safe than sorry.

This shows that one has to be careful when thinking about what are in these shots. It can be a very risky business, and we have to be mindful of the things we allow to be injected into our bodies. In no way am I saying that all shots are going to result in a rare, fatal disease, but just use this as a reason to be more conscious of the shots and vaccines you recieve; or who knows, we might end up in a situation similar to the movie "I Am Legend".