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    Lightbulb meningitis research, treatments, updates

    New meningitis test hopes to contain outbreaks...

    Scientists Hope New Test Could Help Contain Meningitis Outbreaks
    August 24, 2016 — A test has been developed that could help diagnose bacterial infections including meningitis in minutes, but it could take several years before a cheap testing device is available to developing countries, scientists said on Wednesday.
    The new test could save lives, allow treatment of disease — which is difficult to diagnose — to start much sooner and reduce the risk of life-changing after effects, an international team of researchers led by Imperial College London said. "We would very much hope this could become something cheap enough to be applied even in resource poor regions," Imperial College Professor Michael Levin told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Currently the only test available for meningitis, whose symptoms include a high fever, headaches and vomiting, is expensive and takes more than 48 hours, Levin said. A study led by the pediatrician shows that bacterial infections can be distinguished from other causes of fever.


    Meningococcal meningitis survivor and vaccination advocate Leslie Meigs looks on as her brother Andrew (18), a college student in Texas, receives Bexsero(R), a meningococcal group B vaccine approved by the FDA for ages 10-25.

    The research revealed that two genes in white blood cells become active only in case of bacterial infections, according to the study published in the JAMA medical journal. Researchers said a cheap pin-$#@! blood test able to accurately identify bacterial infections in less than one hour could be developed within five years. "If this works... [we] could have an accurate test in situations such as in sub-Saharan Africa where there are epidemics of meningitis and accurate testing using the current methodologies is really difficult," study co-author Dr Jethro Herberg said.

    Meningitis is common across Africa's so-called "meningitis belt" from Senegal to Ethiopia. An outbreak of meningitis killed at least 90 people in Niger this year, according to medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). A 2009 outbreak caused more than 80,000 cases, while some 20,000 people died in another epidemic, in 1996-1997. Meningitis, which is prevalent in children and elderly people, can be treated with antibiotics, but 10 percent to 15 percent of patients die and up to 19 percent of survivors have long-term disabilities, including brain damage and limb amputations.

    http://www.voanews.com/a/scientists-...s/3479453.html

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    Meningitis outbreak kills 336 children in Nigeria...

    Meningitis epidemic kills 336 children in Nigeria
    Apr 4,`17 -- Nigerian and international health officials say a meningitis epidemic has killed 336 children amid fears it could spread across the border to Niger.
    The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control and U.N. agencies say 2,997 cases have been reported in the states of Zamfara, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger and Sokoto in northwest and north-central Nigeria since the disease surfaced in December. A statement Tuesday says most victims are between 5 and 14.

    Some 500,000 doses of vaccine have arrived in Zamfara, where the disease surfaced. But officials say 2 million doses are needed and there's a worldwide shortage for the strain, which inflames the spinal cord and brain.

    The statement notes the "risk of international border transmission." Meningitis killed 1,100 people and infected more than 10,000 in Nigeria and Niger in 2015.

    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...04-04-09-48-21

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    NECC co-owner gets 9 years for meningitis outbreak...

    Pharmacy boss blamed for meningitis outbreak gets 9 years
    June 26, 2017 — The co-owner of a pharmacy deemed responsible for the deaths of 76 people in a national meningitis outbreak tearfully apologized to the victims on Monday and was sentenced to nine years in prison, far less than the victims had wanted.
    "I'm sorry for your extraordinary losses," Barry Cadden said, wiping his eyes. A dozen victims who were sickened or lost loved ones asked the judge to give Cadden the harshest penalty allowed under the law for the deadly 2012 nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak, which sickened hundreds of people. Cadden was acquitted of second-degree murder charges under federal racketeering law but was convicted on conspiracy and fraud charges. He must report to prison by Aug. 7 but remains free on bond until then. The outbreak was traced to contaminated injections of medical steroids made by the New England Compounding Center in Framingham. Prosecutors say Cadden, 50, ran the center in a dangerous way by skirting industry regulations on sterility in an effort to push production and make more money. Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Strachan said the center was "a massive reckless and fraudulent organization."

    At Cadden's sentencing Monday, victims told stories of shattered lives and unbearable loss caused by the tainted steroids made by Cadden's company. Penny Laperriere, whose husband died after receiving a contaminated steroid shot, said Cadden destroyed her family. "Who gave him the right to play God?" the Michigan woman said. She said her husband, Lyn, received the shot to try to get relief from his back pain. He died in 2012. Prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Cadden to 35 years in prison. Cadden's lawyer said he should get 2 1/2 to 3 years. The outbreak of fungal meningitis and other infections in 20 states was traced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to contaminated injections of medical steroids, given mostly to people with back pain.

    The CDC put the death toll at 64 as of October 2013. Federal prosecutors say 12 more people have died since then, raising the total to 76. More than 700 people were sickened. Indiana, Michigan and Tennessee were hit hardest. One of those who died was longtime Kentucky judge Eddie C. Lovelace, whose widow, Joyce Lovelace, told her story to Congress. The scandal prompted increased scrutiny on compounding pharmacies, which differ from ordinary drugstores in that they custom-mix medications and supply them directly to hospitals and doctors. In 2013, in reaction to the outbreak, Congress increased federal oversight of such pharmacies. Federal prosecutor Amanda Strachan told the jury during the two-month trial that the deaths and illnesses happened because Cadden "decided to put profits before patients."

    NECC used expired ingredients and falsified logs to make it look as if the so-called clean rooms had been disinfected, prosecutors said. After the outbreak, regulators found multiple potential sources of contamination, including standing water and mold and bacteria in the air and on workers' gloved fingertips. Cadden's lawyer, Bruce Singal, told the jury Cadden was not responsible for the deaths and pointed the finger at Glenn Chin, a supervisory pharmacist who ran the clean rooms where drugs were made. Chin has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go on trial in September. NECC filed for bankruptcy after getting hit with hundreds of lawsuits. NECC and several related companies reached a $200 million settlement with victims and their families.

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