A mother of three from Texas has died after traveling to Mexico to get a boob job and contracting meningitis — making her the ninth American victim in the outbreak of the yeast infection.
Crystal Villegas, 31, spent the past four months fighting for her life in a Texas hospital after contracting fungal meningitis, a rare infection that causes swelling around the brain and spinal cord.
She traveled to Riverside Clinic in Matamoros, Tamaulipas State, Mexico, located on the Texas, US border, reportedly to save money on the surgery.
It is feared the outbreak, linked to two Mexican clinics, has infected hundreds and has already killed nine American women, mostly young mothers, highlighting the dangers of so-called “medical tourism.”
Crystal Villegas, 31, spent the past four months fighting for her life in a Texas hospital after contracting fungal meningitis
Ms. Villegas battled the infection for four months at Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen
Mrs. Villegas lived in Brownsville in the state, just across the border.
She was treated at Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen after her boob job and died at around 6:30 p.m. on July 30.
Her husband Juan Tapia, a super featherweight boxer who fights under the name Johnny Blaze, said: “It was a tough four months, she fought hard and never gave up.”
According to Mr Tapia, his wife regretted the breast implant surgery and desperately wanted to see her three young children grow up and grow up.
He added, “Those few months were very hard, very hard for me, but I’m glad she’s resting now.”
In the days following the surgery in Mexico, Ms. Villegas began to complain of severe headaches and her condition worsened with a high fever.
After going to the emergency room, tests revealed she had meningitis.
Ms. Villegas pictured with her husband Juan Tapia, a super featherweight boxer who fights under the name Johnny Blaze
Nine Americans have died after cosmetic surgery at River Side Surgical Center (left) and Clinica K-3 (right) in Matamoros, Mexico
Mr Tapia also claimed that two friends of Ms Villegas had also died following cosmetic surgery, including a close friend in March.
Ms. Villegas is one of nine Americans to have died from the yeast infection, including mom-of-two Jody Adkins, mom-of-four Lauren Robinson, who has had a boob job, liposuction, and Brazilian butt lift (BBL), and mom-of-one Shyanne Medrano, who has had liposuction. and underwent a BBL. According to local news media, another Mexican patient has died.
Before she died, Mr. Tapia said his wife was “learning to walk again, to go to the toilet again, to talk again.”
He added: ‘Please be aware of the risks associated with cosmetic procedures. Our hope is to spread awareness so that people can actually do the research.
‘It changes everything. Everything. It is not worth it.
“I wish this was all just a bad dream we could wake up from and go back to the day before the surgery and somehow convince her not to go.”
Each year, more than one million U.S. citizens travel to Mexico for low-cost cosmetic procedures in private clinics where safety protocols are often inadequate compared to U.S. standards.
The map above shows the location of Matamoros, where the procedures took place. People are urged not to go there for plastic surgeries
About 1.2 million U.S. residents travel to Mexico each year to receive elective surgery at a discount, according to Medical Tourism Mexico, which advertises that patients can save up to 80% on a similar procedure in the U.S.
Earlier in 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advised US residents not to undergo procedures in Mexico involving epidural medications because of an “outbreak of fungal meningitis.”
The fungus isolated at the two clinics appears to be Fusarium solani, which was linked to a previous outbreak of meningitis in Durango, Mexico, late last year.
According to the CDC, that outbreak, which was also linked to epidural anesthesia procedures, had a death rate of nearly 50 percent from those infections — with 39 deaths out of 80 cases.
The new outbreak is believed to be due to contaminated epidural equipment used in procedures such as a BBL or dodgy morphine.
The victims of the latest outbreak paid up to $5,000 for their surgeries, a fraction of the price they would pay in the US.
Health officials told DailyMail.com in June that they had been able to reach about half of the 230 people who had surgery at both clinics since the beginning of the year. The outbreak was first reported in May 2023.
Both clinics closed in May. But if other confirmed cases are found in other facilities, the number of risks could be much higher.
The CDC is urging anyone who has undergone epidural surgery (an injection into the spine to numb a part of the body) at either clinic this year to get to the nearest emergency room as soon as possible. going to be evaluated even if they have no symptoms.
The epidural is used in procedures such as liposuction, breast augmentation and Brazilian buttock lifts, which can be more than $16,000 cheaper than in the US.
If a woman has these surgeries done in the US, it can cost up to $20,000.
Chris Van Deusen of the Texas Department of Health told DailyMail.com that while most of the cases were women, some were also men.
He said: ‘If anyone knows anyone who may have gone to Matamoros for surgery, please let them know that they could be affected and to know what to look out for. health department in their area to get more information.”
In its latest update, the CDC said it is investigating 151 people who may have the infection.
There have been nine deaths. Eight of these are confirmed cases and one is a probable case. There are now a total of ten confirmed cases.
The patients monitored by the CDC reported symptoms such as headache, fever, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, confusion and sensitivity to light.
Dr. Tom Chiller, chief of the fungal disease division at the CDC, told DailyMail.com, “IIt’s so important to get people in as early as possible and it’s not really too late.
“I think so far the longest period from time of procedure to symptoms has been up to 50 days.
“Fungi sometimes have these long indolent periods and we’re not sure why and so it’s not too late, we want people to come in and be evaluated.”
Dr. Chiller added that the agency does not yet know the exact source of the fungal meningitisand ‘unfortunately we will never know.’
He said the CDC is open to the fact that the infection could have happened in other clinics. It is currently believed that the source of the infection is the morphine provided to patients by anesthesiologists.