CDC Offers Revised Meningitis Guidelines

By JENNIFER CORBETT DOOREN

Federal health officials have issued revised guidelines for doctors dealing with patients exposed to contaminated steroid injections but who aren't showing signs of having meningitis.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention late Tuesday said for the first time that doctors could consider testing patients for meningitis if they received a spinal injection made by New England Compounding Center in the past 42 days, even if they aren't showing signs of being sick.
However, the agency said that if doctors prefer simply to monitor patients for signs of illness such as headaches, stiff neck or strokelike symptoms before they move to testing, that is an acceptable option, too.
CDC said the period of greatest risk for the development of fungal meningitis is the first six weeks after an epidural or paraspinal injection. NECC recalled the contaminated steroid injections, methylprednisolone acetate, on Sept. 26, so some patients remain at risk of developing meningitis
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