THIRD American dies from cerebral fungal infection associated with plastic surgery in Mexico
THIRD American dies from brain fungal infection linked to plastic surgery in Mexico: CDC says anyone who crossed the border for certain cosmetic surgeries should go to ER NOW — amid fears hundreds are infected
Another American has died following cosmetic surgery in Mexico, health officials have revealed.
The individual died of a cerebral fungal infection that U.S. doctors say was contracted from unsterilized equipment south of the border.
They are the third person to die of fungal meningitis after traveling to Mexico for discounted plastic surgery after two Texan women died last week.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) believes more than 200 Americans who traveled to clinics in Matamoros between January and May 13 may be at risk, urging people to get to the nearest emergency room as soon as possible. help to be evaluated, even if they have no symptoms.
US health chiefs called for the deadly mold outbreak to be declared an international health emergency by the World Health Organization.
Three people have died Texans have died after cosmetic surgery, including liposuction, in Mexico. Health officials say the women were treated at clinics in Matamoros, Mexico, including River Side Surgical Center (left) and Clinica K-3 (right).
The map above shows the location of Matamoros, where the procedures took place. People are urged not to go there for plastic surgeries
It comes after growing warnings about medical tourism, which offers heavily discounted prices but poses dangers because procedures are not as well regulated as in the US.
The CDC is monitoring the condition of another 185 people who received epidural anesthesia (an injection into the spine to numb a part of the body) during plastic surgeries performed since January.
But hundreds of others may have been affected by Mexico’s thriving medical tourism industry, which sees about 1.2 million Americans travel south each year for affordable care, and an even greater number of international patients.
The CDC and its equivalent in Mexico have asked the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare the situation a health emergency, which would allow the global agency to deploy resources to track and isolate cases, quarantine contacts and board passengers to screen.
Recruiters lured hundreds of patients from around the world and 24 US states to the River Side Surgical Center and Clinica K-3 in Mexico, both of which are now closed, for procedures such as liposuction, breast augmentation or Brazilian butt lifts.
Not two of the cases
Fourteen of the cases are suspected fungal meningitis — infections of the brain and spinal cord — and 11 are probable.
The patients reported symptoms such as headache, fever, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, confusion and sensitivity to light.
The infection causes swelling of the protective lining around the brain and spinal cord, known as the meninges.
Once symptoms appear, meningitis can quickly become life-threatening, the CDC warned.
Test results from Mexican authorities have raised concerns that a deadly mold outbreak linked to clinics elsewhere in Mexico that occurred earlier this year will repeat. Nearly half of all patients with meningitis died during that outbreak.