AUSTIN, Texas — Fungal meningitis is a rare disease, but the outbreak that began earlier this year from surgeries performed at two clinics in Matamoros, Mexico, has health experts worried.
A growing number of Texans are getting sick, and some have died.
Most were exposed to the disease after visiting clinics for cosmetic surgery. Officials identified two facilities associated with the outbreak: River Side Surgical Center and Clinica K-3. Both have since been shut down.
Fungal meningitis affects the covering of the brain. Symptoms can include fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light and confusion.
This week, the Centers for Disease Control reported nine confirmed cases, 146 suspected cases and six deaths. Among those who got sick and died was a young mother of four from Vidor in southeast Texas.
Lauren Robinson’s husband, Garrett, said that, at first, her cosmetic surgery seemed to be successful.
“She started going back to work and then she just kept constantly telling me, 'Hey, you know, I have a headache. Something's not right,'" he told KVUE's TEGNA sister station in Beaumont, KBMT.
Lauren Robinson died after a short illness attributed to fungal meningitis that she contracted at a clinic in Mexico. She was 29.
The CDC said anyone who has had procedures under epidural anesthesia in Matamoros clinics from Jan. 1 to May 13, 2023, may have been exposed and is at risk for a potentially fatal disease.
Health experts caution those people to see their doctors to get checked out, regardless of whether they're feeling symptoms.