Vilinda York lies in her Florida hospital bed, facing a dry-erase board that lists in green marker her name, her four doctors and a smiley face.
Also on the board is this: "Anticipated date of discharge: NOT YET DETERMINED."
The 64-year-old contracted fungal meningitis after receiving three tainted steroid shots in her back. She's one of 284 people nationwide who are victims of an outbreak that began when a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy shipped contaminated medication. Twenty-three people have died.
Like many trying to recover, York, who has been hospitalized since Sept. 27, faces a long and uncertain road. Many people have died days or even weeks after being hospitalized. Fungal meningitis â€" which is not contagious â€" is a tenacious disease that can be treated only with powerful drugs.
"I'm determined I'm going to fight this thing," she said. "The devil is not going to win."
Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist who chairs Vanderbilt University's Department of Preventive Medicine, said the treatment includes intravenous anti-fungal medicines that are tricky to use.
"These are powerful drugs. They're toxic," he said. "You're walking a tightrope because you want to get enough into a patient to have the therapeutic effect while at the same time you're trying not to affect, or to minimize the effect on the liver and kidneys."
AP
FILE - In this photo made available, Oct. 9, 2012, by the Minnesota Department of Health shows shows vials of the injectable steroid product made by New England Compounding Center implicated in a fungal meningitis outbreak that were being shipped to the CDC from Minneapolis. On Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said the fungus was in one lot of vials made in August, 2012 by the New England Compounding Center of Framingham, Mass. The specialty pharmacy has been at the center of a national investigation into more than 250 fungal meningitis cases, including at least 20 deaths. (AP Photo/Minnesota Department of Health, File)
Close Even after leaving the hospital, patients will continue antifungal drugs for weeks or months, he said.
The infectious disease doctor handling York's case did not immediately respond to a phone message.
When York talks about the last six weeks, tears run down her cheeks. She knows the disease is deadly. And if she needed a reminder, it's right there in the headline from a local newspaper on her hospital bed: "Third death reported in Marion County from fungal meningitis."
For York, 2012 started well. The retired clothing shop clerk and widow from Illinois was doing water aerobics three times a week, tending to her flower garden and spending time with church friends. They'd get together at Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants a couple of times a week and go to church every Sunday.
On Jan. 21, she was on her way to a wedding when she got into a car crash. It wasn't enough to put her in the hospital, but she did suffer back problems.
The pain was strong enough for her to visit a doctor at Marion Pain Clinic, where she received two steroid shots on Aug. 16. A week later, the pain was still there and she began feeling headachy, nauseous and dizzy. She chalked it up to her back and got a third shot Aug. 28.
In the weeks that followed, her health deteriorated. She couldn't lie down without extreme back pain. A friend gave her a recliner to sleep in. The headaches grew severe, sharp pains shooting from all directions into her skull.
"I couldn't walk well, I couldn't see good and I could wipe the sweat off my arms," she said.
On Sept. 27, her legs and arms grew numb. The numbness flowed upwards to her waist. That's when she called the emergency dispatcher.
"I didn't know whether I was getting ready for a stroke," she said.
When she arrived at the hospital, doctors took a spinal tap and discovered she had meningitis.
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