Meningitis Outbreak Death Toll Rises To 12 Amid New Questions On Oversight (Video)

As the death toll climbs to 12 in the nationwide fungal meningitisoutbreak, calls for FDA oversight of the contaminated drugs that caused the outbreak continue to stack up from congressmen, doctors and think tanks.

All 137 confirmed victims of this outbreak received spinal injections of a compounded steroid, methylprednisolone acetate, manufactured by New England Compounding Company in Framingham, Mass. The special pharmacy that compounded drugs has since shut down operations and recalled all products. An estimated 13,000 patients are at risk because they received the injections, according to the CDC.

For a map of cases by state, click here.

“What is particularly tragic for the families of those who have been sickened or killed by the tainted drugs is that this situation was completely avoidable,” said Dr. Michael Carome, Deputy Director of Public Citizen’s health research group. Public citizen is a 41-year-old non-profit think tank in Washington, D.C.

Unlike other forms of meningitis, the fungal type is not spread person to person. It does, however, affect the spine and membrane surrounding the brain. Early symptoms of fungal meningitis are mild and include headache, fever, dizziness, nausea and slurred speech, but the inflammatory disease can later cause permanent neurological damage and death. Patients are told symptoms can occur up to a month after their spinal injections.

Read more here and watch video at: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/meningitis-death-toll-rises-fda-oversight-questioned/story?id=17444841#.UHXgHBU72nw

Hopefully they will be able to put a stop to this outbreak fast before it spreads anymore and infects anymore people. Hopefully no one else will get sick.

~Ophelia