Fungal meningitis is a non contagious form of meningitis. I thought this was interesting because we had touched briefly in class about meningitis. With over 700 cases across 20 states and over 50 deaths this may be something to think about. While this is not contagious there is still risk of getting it. People have been getting this infection after receiving contaminated preservative free MPA steroid injections. This first started appearing in October but is still going on today.
It has been found that people catch this usually when they got injections in the spine. Symptoms for this to look out for at fever, headaches, stiff neck, nausea, and vomiting. The FDA has told people who may have gotten one of these injections or show any of these symptoms or signs of an infection to do a checkup with their local healthcare.
This outbreak while at first seems not so harmful since it isn't contagious and can be fixed easy if caught in time can still be worrisome. This causes a lot of unneeded caution now if you need to get one of these shots. This should be a problem that we don't have. If this is infecting unopened vial that are meant to be completely sterile is it possible they can infect us in other ways other than just by these injections?
While they are still unsure exactly how these infections are growing i think it is concerning on what this infection could grow to become. If we cant find a stop to it it could grow larger and larger and even become worse than it is now. People dont want to have to worry that every time they get a shot they could get an infection. It's just another thing we have to worry about and its something that shouldn't even be an issue. With cases popping up more and more across many states its just a matter of time before it can spread everywhere. Also with a reported 51 deaths from over 700 cases it is something to actually worry about.
While i have confidence that this will not be as big as it could be i feel it is something to take caution in. Hopefully the worse has already come and we can work on reducing the infections. Having to not worry about getting these infections is a burden off our shoulders. For the mean time though i think it's important to watch out for now if you are getting injections until this is over.
I thought this was a good choice of an article because it's scary to think that sometimes medicine can be the cause of another infection and is just another way for dangerous microbes to enter our bodies. It must be surprising for people when they have to get steriods to fight off an infection then all of a sudden develop another one. This is a serious problem all around the world that some medicines can be contaminated. I remember there being a huge drug company that messed up and produced a lot of medicines that were infected and a bunch of people ended up getting sick or dying from this mistake. I think the drug companies should do a better job monitoring their products before they sell them to customers hoping that their products would be beneficial to them or in some cases, life saving.
ReplyDeleteTaylor- Great article choice! This relates well to what we have been learning in class. Its scary to think you could get this from receiving contaminated preservative free MPA steroid injections. Normally you catch something from someone and can some sence that your going to get it. I agree with Alex, that it is important that drug companies are monitoring thier products to avoid causing cases like this.
ReplyDeleteI found this article to be very interesting. We often focus on diseases that are highly contagious but this article just shows that there are diseases out there that aren't contagious however they are still very important. I found it very scary that people were getting Fungal Meningitis through contaminated preservative free MPA steroid injections. We often have this mentality that with medicine and proper injections we will protect ourselves from foreign invaders but this article proves that sometimes medicines can be harmful. It's awful that people who are just trying to keep themselves healthy are getting this terrible infection.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this article. It related very well to topics we have discussed in class. It is very scary to think that we could be at risk just by getting a shot. When I think of getting a shot, I think of something that is protecting me from getting sick, but in several cases it has done just the opposite.
ReplyDeleteI found this article very interesting because it especially relates to topics we have discussed in class. And how we should always be on the look out for new diseases circulating. I agree with Mallory, I think we are taught to trust our doctors and what they think we should receive, when really it could be fatal. My mom has had a viral type of Meningitis so I have seen it up close. It is a really scary disease that most definitely is fatal.
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