Any individuals who had epidural anesthesia in Matamoros, Mexico, at River Side Surgical Center or Clinica K-3 between January 1 and May 13 of this year should immediately go to the emergency room to be tested for viral meningitis.
A mother of four is dead after contracting fungal meningitis when she traveled to Mexico for plastic surgery.
Lauren Robinson passed away on Tuesday at the age of 29, after spending close to a month in a Texas hospital fighting for her life.
Her final weeks were detailed in a handful of entries shared by her husband, Garrett Robinson, on a GoFundMe page set up to help the family pay for Lauren's medical care.
Garrett says that Lauren started getting sick approximately one month after traveling to the Mexican city of Matamoros for a cosmetic procedure.
Things were fine at first, but then Lauren started to complain about constant headaches, says Garrett.
It took some time for doctors to determine the cause of Lauren's pain and soon after they did, Lauren found herself in the hospital.
By May 17, doctors admitted Lauren to the ICU.
"Lauren is still fighting meningitis on top of having two mild strokes today. They are saying she has a clot in her brain which has caused less blood flow which has also been the culprit to the bad headaches. She is now at a high risk of a major stroke," Garrett writes in an entry from that same day. "And she is just getting out of an emergency procedure where they had to run cameras through her throat and check all valves and her heart. They will have to increase her blood pressure with medicines to hopefully let the clot take care of its self. In the event it does not she will need surgery to have it fixed."
The following day, Garrett says that doctors told him Lauren had taken another turn for the worse and might not make it through the night.
"I was later grabbed by a nurse and taken to an operating room where I was told that a main blood vessel in Lauren's brain had collapsed. She started to shut down as well as lose all functions on her left side," writes Garrett. "The doctor told me that Lauren would not make it much longer than possibly 8am today. They told me I had to choose whether to have her returned to our room and just hold her hand and wait on the worse to come or we could have a very dangerous procedure performed to save her."
Garrett opted for the procedure, and it worked.
He did not post again until May 28, when he writes that despite there being little change in Lauren's condition, he is hopeful about her prospects.
"As of right now Lauren is still on the ventilator and sedated. But she's a fighter and occasionally wakes up and can hold my hand and tell me she loves me!" Garrett says.
Three days later she passed away, leaving behind her loving husband and their four children: Brayden Cleveland, Braleigh Robinson, Kennedy and Aysleigh.
The Centers for Disease Control is now classifying this as an outbreak due to the growing number of cases.
The CDC advises any individuals who had epidural anesthesia in Matamoros, Mexico, at River Side Surgical Center or Clinica K-3 between January 1 and May 13 of this year should immediately go to the emergency room to be tested for viral meningitis.
The state department previously issued a travel advisory urging Americans to avoid traveling to Matamoros following a kidnapping attempt that left two dead.
Symptoms of fungal meningitis include fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light, and confusion, according to the CDC
Health officials also note that it can take weeks for symptoms to develop, and they may be very mild or absent at first.
Once those symptoms start however, they can quickly become severe and life-threatening, which is why early testing is crucial.
