meningitis attorney secondary meningitis infectionsIn meningitis attorney news, the meningitis outbreak claimed two more lives this past week.

The tainted steroids produced by the New England Compounding Center have now infected nearly 500 people in 19 states and the death toll has climbed to 36.

Now that seemingly the first wave of infections is running its course, the main fear is now of secondary infections in survivors who survived the first meningitis infections.

This has doctors and meningitis attorneys on guard for a new wave of meningitis symptoms and potential meningitis lawsuits.

Meningitis Attorney Warns of Secondary Infections

Many of the first cases of meningitis are now experiencing a recurrence of symptoms. Brenda Bansale was one of the first who contracted meningitis due to the outbreak. She ended up in the hospital for fifteen days at a hospital in Michigan.

Although Bansale survived the harrowing ordeal the first time, she is now part of a second wave of patients who have contracted secondary meningitis infections after surviving the first wave.

She now has large abscess surrounding the injections sites where she was first injected with steroids for back pain months ago. Michigan doctors believe the abscess is from the same fungus that’s been widely reported in the outbreak.

Michigan doctors at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital have treated over 50 patients for meningitis and many of them have suffered from abscesses similar to Bansale’s.

Secondary Meningitis Infections: Cause for Concern

The pathophysiology of secondary meningitis infections is not well understood. It is believed that some of the infected steroid travels up the spinal column to the brain, causing inflammation – the root cause of fungal meningitis.

In many cases, some of the fungal infections stays at the site of injection and causes a topical infection in the skin. The formation of an abscess is the body’s way of trying to fight off the infection.

With abscesses though, they are very hard to treat, because they form a thick wall of tissue near the site of infection which makes the treatment difficult. Oftentimes, patients undergo surgery to open up the area, which is dangerous because the surgical site is layered with nerve tissue. It takes a skilled surgeon to excise the tissue without permanent damage.

Some doctors are even finding infected patients who don’t foster any symptoms of meningitis.

In some cases the abscesses near the spinal column can even erode into the spinal fluid to then infect the patient with meningitis and this can be extremely serious.

What Should You Do?

If you have received injections of tainted steroids and are starting to develop abscesses, seek medical attention immediately. You could be at serious risk of contracting fungal meningitis.

After you have been treated, contact a meningitis attorney law firm like ours…because you do have options.

The New England Compounding Center is first and foremost liable for your injuries. Additionally, physicians and hospitals which may have misdiagnosed or mistreated you are potentially liable as well.

As with most cases of medical liability, a meningitis lawyer would carefully review your medical records as well as have multiple specialized medical practitioners inspect those records. Should a claim be submitted, the information in those medical records would be extremely important to prove your claim.

Should I Seek a Meningitis Attorney?

The meningitis attorneys at Kevin P Landry Law Offices have years of experience dealing with medical malpractice issues and have recovered substantial sums for people whose doctors failed to diagnose and/or treat symptoms of diseases properly.

If you are infected and have suffered significant damage, contact a meningitis lawyer who you can rely on to help you navigate through the minefield of legal issues that you are inevitably going to face. Contact us immediately.