Fungal Meningitis Linked to Altoona Clinic
By: Charlotte Ames
Updated: October 15, 2012
The State Health Department is reporting the first case of fungal meningitis in Pennsylvania.
An Altoona clinic was one of only two in the state that received medication linked to the national meningitis outbreak and now one of the patients treated there has fungal meningitis.
State health officials say the patient received an epidural steroid injection this past July at Allegheny Pain Management in Altoona. That person is now in the hospital, receiving medications recommended by the Centers for Disease Control to treat the infection.
On Friday October 5, Allegheny Pain Management in Altoona announced that it had received some of the recalled medicine and returned it unopened. However, now it appears that a patient became ill from an injection taken from an earlier batch of medicine.
Allegheny Pain had pulled all of the medication from the compounding pharmacy linked to the outbreak.
So far, this fungal medicaiton case in Altoona is the only one in the state linked to the recalled medicine. No cases have been reported in connection with a Pittsburgh area pain clinic that also dispensed the drug.
The CDC says nationwide, 15 people have died and about 200 have been sickened in the fungal meningitis outbreak.
An Altoona clinic was one of only two in the state that received medication linked to the national meningitis outbreak and now one of the patients treated there has fungal meningitis.
State health officials say the patient received an epidural steroid injection this past July at Allegheny Pain Management in Altoona. That person is now in the hospital, receiving medications recommended by the Centers for Disease Control to treat the infection.
On Friday October 5, Allegheny Pain Management in Altoona announced that it had received some of the recalled medicine and returned it unopened. However, now it appears that a patient became ill from an injection taken from an earlier batch of medicine.
Allegheny Pain had pulled all of the medication from the compounding pharmacy linked to the outbreak.
So far, this fungal medicaiton case in Altoona is the only one in the state linked to the recalled medicine. No cases have been reported in connection with a Pittsburgh area pain clinic that also dispensed the drug.
The CDC says nationwide, 15 people have died and about 200 have been sickened in the fungal meningitis outbreak.
Comments
If i received an injection there on Monday october 16, do i have anything to worry about with this. I know they said that there returned all their batches. It sounds to me like that is what they said prior to having someone get meningitis from them though. I know i was very dissatisfied with the doctor there. he seemed like he had very little concern for me as a patient. He only spoke two or three words to me, and even when i asked to talk to him i was told that he was to busy. I know that i am changing doctors now, but just wonder if i have anything to worry about from this. I think the dr. name was dr drass
Shad S.
October 16, 2012 at 8:34 pm
