see my post below and hope you feel much better soon!

Guess I shouldn't make light of this case by comparing it to my probable flu mixed with mental tiredness. I've been out of it lately. Its not related to this case obviously, but I just found it odd reading the symptoms.

And REPUBLICANS want to ABOLISH THE FDA.

This is the SAME FUNGUS that killed people a decade ago due to lax state oversight:

Five people were sickened and one died in 2002 after receiving epidural injections of the steroid methylprednisolone contaminated with the fungus Exophiala, a new review of public health records shows.

"It's playing out about the same way, but the order of magnitude is so much greater," said Dr. Jeffrey Engel, an epidemiologist who grappled with the outbreak that started in North Carolina and spread to four other states a decade ago.

A decade ago, some 870 patients in North Carolina got similar shots, according to press accounts at the time. A 77-year-old woman who was being treated for low back pain developed fungal meningitis and died more than four months after an epidural injection, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Four other women ages 52 to 71 were also sickened by the tainted shots, either in their aching backs or in arthritic joints, but they recovered.

That case is among some 20 incidents since 1990 of recalls, serious illnesses and deaths linked to faulty compounding practices across the U.S., all gleaned from public reports. Some occurred in hospital pharmacies; others happened in compounding pharmacies that aren't required to report adverse events to regulators.

Engel has been watching the current outbreak closely, dismayed that the problem continues.

"Haven't we done anything nationally to prevent this?" he said.

No, Mr. Engel, we haven't. Because the Republicans have ruled the roost during that time, and they believe that federal regulation is evil.

So more people are dying.

Confusion over the FDA's jurisdiction over compounding pharmacies happened because the Supreme Court threw out part of the oversight legislation in 2003. And the Republican Congress in charge at the time refused to write new authorization for FDA control.

Sound familiar?

When senators met nearly a decade ago to consider the dangers of pharmacies that mix or alter drugs with little federal oversight, health officials briefed them on some alarming findings about the safety and efficacy of drugs made by these "compounding pharmacies."

Dr. Steven Galson, a top official at the Food and Drug Administration, told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that in 2001 the agency had done a "limited" survey of drugs from 12 such pharmacies, including hormones, antibiotics, steroids and drugs to treat glaucoma, asthma and erectile dysfunction.

And he shed some light on the risks from an industry now at the heart of today's unprecedented meningitis outbreak.

Ten of the 29 drugs failed one or more quality tests, including nine that failed potency testing, some with less than 70 percent of their declared potency. By contrast, in its analyses of more than 3,000 samples from drug manufacturers, who are subject to FDA oversight, only four had quality problems.

Shortly after Galson testified in 2003, Congress killed an attempt to establish an FDA oversight committee on pharmacy compounding. It was the first in a series of failures to regulate this little-known side of the pharmaceutical industry, which has fought back through Capitol Hill lobbying and political donations.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/10/16/how-compounding-pharmacies-rallied-patients-to-fight-regulation/#ixzz29VONkDyl

Kind of ironic that the GOP is calling for investigations of the FDA over this, when they were the reason it wasn't controlled in the first place.

Hello, I just read your comment on the administration of IV-Vitamin C. Along with the research and positive proof of effectiveness of the vitamin C on viral outbreaks, I was wondering if they had run any trials on bacterial contamination such as this horrible spread of induced fungal meningitis? Vitamin C is marvelous!!!

It's FUNGAL. Not viral or bacterial.

At least read the article before you start dispensing medical advice.

RealAmericansFirst, thanks for pointing that out!!! It is extremely dangerous for people to make treatment recommendations or post medical advice in the comments section...very dangerous, especially since the majority of these posters are most likely not licensed medical professionals! (I am a pharmacist, and some of the "recommendations" I've seen posted have been downright dangerous and erroneous!)

The Government does it.......Population control!!!

The same way those people 10 years ago became infected. Lack of proper regulatory oversight.

It's a triumph of "smaller government".

I for one appreciate the media coverage. It is sure more informative and useful than once more reading about what Romney said about Obama and vice-versa. One of my loved ones has back trouble, too. Not getting methylprednisolone injections, thankfully, but taking oral steriods. If 14,000 people are potentially at risk, to paraphrase our Vice President: "This is a big f***king deal." If this media coverage alerts people who have recently received injections to contact their doctors, it could save lives.

I consider it outrageous this infectious drug is being reported by the media to imply it is a national "EPIDEMIC"

Well, it does, technically, meet the defintion of an epidemic.

An epidemic is something that affects or tends to affect an atypically large number of individuals within a population, community, or region at the same time.

Fungal meningitis is rare. The fungi asociated with this particular outbreak are even more rare when it comes to causing fungal meningitis. It's important to note, epidemic doesn't mean that a disportionatly large number of people die from something (though that often does go along with an epidemic just based o statistics) So, yeah, the number of those infected is atypically high and it's affecting a population, community or region at the same time. Thus, it meets the definition of epidemic.

There's little anyone can do to prevent themselves from being in an auto accident.

But there is something you can do to prevent this from happening to you - vote Democratic.

That best comment I have read in years. Traveling the world and eating real food that would not be allowed here, my stomach turns at the over processed, homogenized, pasteurized pre cooked, and antibiotic pap sold in stores and restaurants. I bet 95% of ameica has no immune system left and cant eat anything. Look at people like The Amish here in america for a sample of how to eat wholesome. Even whole foods sells garbage.

Do you guys not know what live was like prior to antibiotics and sterility. Life expectancy was less than 70 years!! The Amish buy their grain and seeds from farmers in America that use chemicals to get the seeds in the first place. They are not super-immune to the flu. They get it just as quickly as the rest of us. Just not as often because they are not circulating in movie theaters and shopping centers. Which actually will make them less immune in the future since their bodies will not know how to deal with it once they are exposed to strains that we are exposed to and built immunity to.

The whooping cough vaccine was changed because of many complications of receiving the vaccination and so now it's less effective. Therefore many people that were vaccinated in about the last 10-13 years are still at some risk. And then you get people that don't vaccinate on the idea that they're being poisoned. I haven't heard that pertussis has actually mutated. Most bugs do mutate at some point, but I haven't heard of any major change in pertussis. Please confirm your source. I like to stay informed about diseases. They're living organisms after all. As far as vaccines go, we need them. Need I mention Smallpox?

From what I read on the CDC website, it can take up to 4 weeks before you notice symptoms (which start of kind of mild). If you're two months out from a shot, I think you're probably okay, but it doesn't hurt to err on the side of caution.

Sorry to hear that. Although rare in any case, the meningitis may have come from another source (I think it can be typed by strain). All I can suggest is that you ask lots and lots of questions of the doctors involved. You want the manufacturer's name and lot number of the injection. You want to know what other supplies were used during the procedure (who made the syringe, the needle, the antiseptic lotions or wipes, etc.) If you feel like you are getting nowhere, don't hesitate to call a lawyer. Sometimes you need the power of subpoenas to get access to information that you may not otherwise be able to get. The first step is to get your uncle well. Getting information from the relevant sources can sometimes be difficult, unfortunately. Be persistent. Don't take no for an answer.