Mexico: Deadly Meningitis Outbreak Blamed on Private Hospitals

Mexico recently faced a meningitis outbreak, and prosecutors in the northern part of the country pinned the blame on private hospitals, noting that contaminated anesthetics caused it.

The meningitis outbreak in Mexico has killed 22 people and sickened at least 71. On Monday, prosecutors in northern Durango state said almost all those infected by meningitis were women undergoing obstetric procedures, with the patients having to receive a type of anesthesia known as a spinal block.

The anesthesia shots were later confirmed to be contaminated with a fungus. Many of those sickened were new mothers. Authorities previously closed four private clinics, saying "serious deficiencies" were found during inspections.

Prosecutors said they had issued seven arrest warrants against the owners or directors of these four private hospitals where the meningitis outbreak occurred beginning last month. According to the warants, they were charged with homicide and causing injuries.

Meningitis Outbreak in Mexico

Last month, Mexico's Public Health Department said a worrisome outbreak of 61 meningitis cases in Durango was linked to anesthetic procedures.

In a statement, the department said the disease was not spread through person-to-person contact. It noted that the spread of the infection was directly into the central nervous system through anesthetic procedures.

However, Assistant Health Secretary Hugo Lopez-Gatell earlier said it was too early to tell whether the case was due to the anesthetic medication itself, the way it was handled, or had a connection to "the bottles used or stored or applied as anesthetics to patients." He added that investigations were being carried out.

Eleven women and one man have died during the past month in the four private hospitals in Durango state because of a fungus present in four batches of local anesthetic, bupivacaine.

The situation has yet to stabilize, and the number of cases continues to rise slowly despite the set-up of special areas in two public health centers to treat the infection.

Intensive care specialist at the Hospital MAC Tampico, Eder Zamarron, said infections will "easily reach about 100," with the fungus being "very aggressive" despite treatment. Zamarron added that mortality could increase as high as 50% of cases.

No arrests have been made so far. The disease is usually transmitted by direct contact with an infected person, but in this case, the cause was a fungus. One of the most probable hypotheses is that hospitals reused needles to save resources.

Mexico's Public Health

Aside from the meningitis outbreak, Mexico's southern state of Oaxaca effectively outlawed the sales of sugary drinks and sweets to protect public health. The state has the highest rate of child obesity in the country and the second highest among adults.

The ban on the sale of fizzy drinks to children, which was announced in 2020, was supposed to be implemented within a year. However, there was inaction on the matter, with campaigners arguing that the ban would likely face stiff opposition from the industry if it was imposed.

Alejandro Calvillo, director of Consumer Power, a campaigning association, said Femsa has "enormous power." According to Calvillo, Femsa is the company that bottles Coca-Cola in Mexico and operates more than 20,000 Oxxo convenience stores across the country.

Mexico is now fourth in the world ranking regarding the global consumption of soft drinks per capita.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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