Physicians are noting brain blood vessel issues and recurrence among the dozens of people who contracted fungal meningitis linked to two cosmetic clinics in Mexico, NBC News reported July 3.
The outbreak was made public in May after one patient died. Since then, the CDC has reported six more deaths, and health departments are monitoring about three dozen cases of Fusarium solani. Most of the patients are young women who received cosmetic surgery procedures between Jan. 1 and May 1 at the now-closed clinics.
Jose Campo Maldonado, MD, an infectious disease specialist at Harlingen, Texas-based Valley Baptist Medical Center, told NBC News nearly all of the infected patients have neurovascular complications, including spasms of brain arteries and mycotic aneurysms.
Many of the fungal meningitis outbreak patients at Valley Baptist Medical Center were showing improvement after being treated — which takes three to six months — before their condition worsened, physicians told the news outlet.
"It looks like a stroke where they suddenly can go unconscious," said James Castillo, MD, health authority for Cameron County, Texas, told NBC News. "For some reason, the aneurysms and the spasms are all happening around the brainstem, but nobody knows why it's happening."
The complications are leading to permanent vision loss and hydrocephalus in some patients.