Mexican authorities have been trying to locate several hundred people since Thursday, including US citizens, at risk of developing fungal meningitis after surgeries, including cosmetic surgery, near the border.
This announcement comes one day after a health warning from US authorities for suspected fungal infections causing serious complications, including death, among US residents returning from the Mexican border city of Matamoros.
About 400 people are affected, including about 80 residents of the United States. “They will be contacted to determine if they are infected,” said Vicente Joel Hernández, health minister for the state of Tamaulipas, where Matamoros is located on the border with Brownsville, Texas.
Two clinics, River Side Surgical Center and Clinica K-3, were closed after the death of an American and the infection of seven others, he said.
Medical tourism
According to the US government, affected travelers underwent surgeries at these clinics, including liposuction, which involves injecting anesthetics into the area around the spine.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has asked anyone who has recently had this type of surgery and shows symptoms to go to the nearest hospital urgently.
Fungal meningitis infections are not contagious and do not spread from person to person, it is emphasized.
Mexico is one of the main medical tourism destinations in the world. Patients mainly from the United States for dental, aesthetic or even oncological treatments.
Source: BFM TV
