The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns more than 200 US patients may be at risk for fungal meningitis after undergoing surgery at clinics in a Mexican border town.
The CDC announced Wednesday that it is working with Mexico’s Health Department and local and state officials to respond to an outbreak related to patients undergoing procedures under epidural anesthesia in Matamoros, Mexico, across the border from Brownsville, Texas have.
The CDC issued one Travel advice last week, warning of outbreak and urging US patients to cancel all scheduled procedures. In the memo, the CDC said it had identified five Texans suspected of having developed cases of fungal meningitis linked to the outbreak, including one who died.
A second person with suspected meningitis linked to the outbreak has died CDC said on Wednesday.
The CDC and Mexican officials identified two clinics in Mexico linked to the outbreak — the River Side Surgical Center and Clinica K-3 — and both closed earlier this month. The CDC said officials are still investigating whether other clinics are linked to this outbreak, though officials don’t know which organism is causing it.
Mexican officials sent the CDC a list of more than 200 US patients who may be at risk based on surgical records.
The CDC is urging patients who have undergone epidural anesthesia at either of the two identified Mexican clinics since January to seek treatment, even if they currently have no symptoms. Symptoms include fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light, and confusion.
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