Epidemiological Effectiveness and Cost of a Fungal Meningitis Outbreak Response in New River Valley, Virginia: Local Health Department and Clinical Perspectives.

Objective: We evaluated the effectiveness and cost of a fungal meningitis outbreak response in the New River Valley of Virginia during 2012-2013 from the perspective of the local public health department and clinical facilities. The fungal meningitis outbreak affected 23 states in the United States with 751 cases and 64 deaths in 20 states; there were 56 cases and 5 deaths in Virginia.

Methods: We conducted a partial economic evaluation of the fungal meningitis outbreak response in New River Valley.

Clinical Response, Outbreak Investigation, and Epidemiology of the Fungal Meningitis Epidemic in the United States: Systematic Review.

We conducted a systematic review of the 2012-2013 multistate fungal meningitis epidemic in the United States from the perspectives of clinical response, outbreak investigation, and epidemiology. Articles focused on clinical response, outbreak investigation, and epidemiology were included, whereas articles focused on compounding pharmacies, legislation and litigation, diagnostics, microbiology, and pathogenesis were excluded. We reviewed 19 articles by use of the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) framework.

Economic Evaluation of Fungal Meningitis Outbreak Response in New River Valley: Local Health Department Perspective.

Background: The multi-state fungal meningitis outbreak started in September 2012 in Tennessee. The cause of the outbreak was injection of contaminated lots of methylprednisolone acetate used in epidural spinal injections. Roanoke and New River Valley were the epicenter of this outbreak in Virginia, with two clinical centers having administered the contaminated injections to their patients.