The Meningitis outbreak continues to plague Michigan as recent reports say that George Cary, age 65, is currently battling the infection after recently losing his wife. He is know recovering after 3 days of intense intravenous antifungal treatment. His wife, Lilian, died on September 30 after they both received spinal steroid injections for pain.
As many as 14,000 people received the contaminated spinal steroid injections manufactured by Framingham Compounding Center in Massachussetts. The shipments were contaminated with fungal meningitis and resulted in the deaths of 24 people across the U.S. Overall, more than 300 people across 18 states contracted fungal meningitis or infections of the joints from the contaminated steroid injections.
After his wife's death, George underwent several spinal taps to test for meningitis and tests came back negative. However, he soon developed signs of an infection when his speech became slurred, he experienced head and neck pain, and sensitivity to light. Meningitis infection is highest 42 days after receiving a tainted injection, according to the CDC, which may explain why it took some time before George demonstrated symptoms of the infection. To check the current outbreak of fungal meningitis, you can check out a map of the infections at the CDC website and also see which clinics across the country received contaminated steroid injection shipments. Michigan now leads the nation for the number of confirmed meningitis cases across the U.S. as a result of the contaminated steroid injections with 73 of the 300 total cases in this state.
