Tools for Teaching the Fungal Meningitis Outbreak

By Jennifer S. Bard

I’m sure many of us are talking about the contaminated steroid injections which have spread a fungal form of meningitis Exserohilum rostratum across the country.   The CDC, which as is usually the case is doing an excellent job of providing clear and current information,  reports that as of “October 17, 2012, a total of 47 patients have laboratory-confirmed fungal meningitis.”  They offer some reassuring information—that “this form of fungal meningitis is not contagious”  and some scary information—that  there are 257 cases and ten deaths in 15 states and that incubation periods last up to a month.

The most recent legal news is that the pharmacy was visited earlier this week by the FDA’s criminal investigative unit and that the first law suit has already been filed in Minnesota Federal District Court by a woman who received a vaccine from the pharmacy but who does not know yet if she has meningitis. Read More