From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report in Special English.
Health officials in the United States
are attempting to contact patients
who recently received steroid injections for back pain.
That is because the injections
may have been carrying a fungus.
Thousands of patients may be at risk of developing a rare form of fungal
meningitis.
Health officials reported Monday that fifteen people
had died
from fungal meningitis
linked to steroid shots.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said
said there were more than two hundred
confirmed cases of the disease
in fifteen states.
The majority of the cases were in three states: Tennessee, Michigan and Virginia.
Meningitis infects membranes that protect the brain and the spinal cord.
There are five kinds of meningitis.
Fungal meningitis is the rarest form of the disease.
Other forms can result from bacteria, a virus or a parasite.
Last Thursday, officials reported that tests
ound evidence of the suspect fungus in more than fifty vials of the steroid.
They said all those vials were manufactured by the New England Compounding Center in Massachusetts.
The company has suspended operations and recalled
all of its products for inspection.
Compounding or specialty pharmacies often custom-mix medicines
at levels, and in forms, that may not be available from other manufacturers.
Under Massachusetts law, compounding pharmacies are only permitted to make
small amounts of made-to-order prescription drugs.
The patients who developed meningitis were being treated for back pain.
The Centers for Disease Control says
others who received the injections in others who received the injections in their joints
are not thought to be at risk.
John Jernigan of the CDC is investigating the meningitis outbreak.
CDC is working with state and local health departments
to contact patients who may have received injections at the facilities who
received
received the recalled lots of this medication
to inform (them) that they, that they may have been exposed, to find out
if they're having symptoms,
and to instruct them to seek health care should they be ill."
Dr. Jernigan says
there are many different signs of fungal meningitis.
fever
"Fever, new or worsening headache, sometimes neck stiffness.
We've also seen in a few patients signs and symptoms of stroke,
sudden onset of slurred speech, dizziness, difficulty walking, sudden weakness."
Health experts say
they do not know how many people
will actually become sick.
They say it could take several months for a fungal infection
to develop.
And that's the VOA Special English Health Report.
I'm Steve Ember. (November 18, 2012)