Two US citizens dead after catching meningitis in Mexico hospital
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[May 26, 2023]
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Two U.S. citizens died after contracting
meningitis while getting treatment in a hospital in the northern Mexican
border city of Matamoros, authorities said on Thursday, as they
investigated some 400 suspected cases.
"A contamination caused these deaths," Mexican President Andres Manuel
Lopez Obrador said in a regular press conference when asked about
reports of 10 deaths and 300-400 people being possibly affected by a
contamination in hospitals at Matamoros, a city across the border from
Brownsville, Texas.
Medication used for anesthesia in plastic surgeries got contaminated and
was used at two private hospitals, said Lopez Obrador, who acknowledged
deaths occurred without specifying how many.
A spokesperson for the U.S. embassy in Mexico confirmed two American
citizens died in Matamoros, without specifying when or where.
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![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/Sep/05/images/ads/current/stclara_lda_SPONSOR_090519.png) Tamaulipas state's Health Minister
Vicente Joel Hernandez said later in an interview there were five
confirmed cases of meningitis in Matamoros and noted the fungus
transmitting it somehow contaminated the anesthesia used in
hospitals.
Hernandez said earlier in May his administration had been
investigating 400 possible cases.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued on
May 17 a health travel notice after some U.S. residents returning
from Matamoros were diagnosed with suspected fungal meningitis
infections, which have led to severe illness and death, according to
a statement published on the embassy's web page.
(Reporting by Valentine Hilaire; Editing by Richard Chang)
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