Second Illness Affecting Meningitis Outbreak Victims

A new medical complication is cropping up among some victims of the meningitis outbreak.

The New York Times reports that epidural abscesses or localized infections at the site where the contaminated steroid shots were administered are developing in some patients even after they have been treated with powerful anti-fungal medications. In some cases, the untreated abscesses may even cause meningitis.

Epidural abscesses can be very serious if not detected and treated promptly. Treatment of the condition often involves surgery.

The abscesses can be identified with symptoms of severe pain near the injection site but because they are internal, an MRI scan is used to diagnose the condition which has no external visible signs on the skin, writes the Times.

The issue first surfaced in Michigan, the state with the largest number of reported cases with the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The state has 119 reported cases out of the total of 424 from 19 states. The death toll from the outbreak has reached 31 and 10 cases of peripheral joint infections have also been reported, according to the CDC.

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