Authorities announced on Thursday that two Americans died of meningitis while receiving treatment at a hospital in the northern Mexican border city of Matamoros.
During a regular press conference, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was asked about reports of 10 deaths and 300-400 people possibly affected by a contamination in hospitals in Matamoros, a border city with Brownsville, Texas.
Lopez Obrador acknowledged there were deaths, but did not specify how many, as a result of contaminated anesthetic drugs used in plastic surgery at two private hospitals
A representative from the US Embassy in Mexico confirmed the deaths of two Americans in Matamoros, but provided no further information.
Later, in an interview, Vicente Joel Hernandez, the Tamaulipas state health minister, stated that five cases of meningitis had been confirmed in Matamoros and that the anesthesia used in hospitals had been contaminated by the fungus that causes it.
Hernandez announced in early May that his administration was investigating 400 potential cases.
According to a statement on the embassy’s website, the CDC issued a health travel advisory on May 17 after some US citizens returning from Matamoros were diagnosed with suspected fungal meningitis infections, which have resulted in severe illness and death.
