HUMBOLDT COUNTY SAFE FROM FUNGAL MENINGITIS OUTBREAK SO FAR

Humboldt County can relax; the injection that’s causing the Fungal Meningitis infection wasn’t distributed here. Ukiah Valley Medical Center is the nearest facility that used the drug, but none of the 97 patients that received it have the infection, nor are they showing symptoms.“We have not had any report of infections related to medicines compounded at the New England Compounding Center.”The inject-able steroid that’s causing the outbreaks wasn’t distributed to any Humboldt County facilities.“The drug is called Methylprednisolone Acetate,” said Dr. Matthew Miller of St. Joseph Health. “It's an inject-able steroid—it's actually a preservative-free form of the compound and it's predominantly used for either joint injection or epidermal steroid injection.”The Massachusetts-based company distributed their product to 23 states, and so far five of them: California, Nevada, West Virginia, Connecticut and Rhode Island are the only states with no known cases of the infection.“The signs and symptoms of Fungal Meningitis typically have been headache, sometimes there's been a fever, nausea, and also fungal meningitis can be associated with stroke like symptoms,” Miller said.As of today the infection has claimed 24 lives, and is present in 328 people.St. Joseph Health sent out letters to all of their patients who received any medications from the NECC. “None of the patients who received medications here, had medications associated with infections,” Hammond said. “But were sending out letters just out of abundance of caution.”The Center For Disease Control is working with states to determine if there may be other fungal infections, caused by exposure to the injections.The CDC doesn’t have firm evidence that other NECC products have caused infections, but it is encouraged people who see symptoms to contact their doctor.