NASHVILLE, Tenn., Oct 24 (Reuters) - A Tennessee doctor who ordered "extra tests" on the spinal fluid of a patient is credited by colleagues with unlocking the mystery of a devastating fungal meningitis outbreak and prompting a national alert that may have saved lives.
Dr. April Pettit, an infectious diseases specialist at Vanderbilt University, could not figure out last month why a patient in his 50s was not responding to standard antibiotic treatments for meningitis, her colleagues at the school told Reuters.
During her research and discussions with the man's family, she discovered that he had received an epidural steroid injection at St. Thomas Outpatient Neurosurgical Center in Nashville.
She then asked the Vanderbilt laboratory to check the man's spinal fluid for a rare form of meningitis, caused by a fungus rather than bacteria or a virus, which cannot be fought with conventional medications.
A spinal tap showed the presence of Aspergillus fumigatus. The patient, who was started on the anti-fungal drug voriconazole, became the first documented case of a fungal meningitis outbreak linked to potentially tainted steroids.
More than 300 people since then have been confirmed as stricken with meningitis after receiving the injections, and 24 have died, including Pettit's patient, in what is one of the nation's worst health scares in recent history.
Pettit's discovery led to the emergency recall of the medication from New England Compounding Center and other steps to stop the outbreak. St. Thomas was later confirmed to have received more of the steroids from NECC than any other facility.
26/10/2012 : Tim Ghianni / Huffington Post.
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