Patient zero Ticking time bomb

In 2012 doctors in Tennessee started seeing patients with unusual symptoms. It became a race against time to find a diagnosis. A series of investigations revealed that the patients were infected with a fungus that was causing a form of meningitis. But where did they pick up the fungus? Olivia Willis speaks to the public health specialists who worked out what linked the people who succumbed to the infection: it turned out to be a contaminated spinal drug. In the end they discovered that more than 700 people across 20 US states had received the drug and more than 50 died.

An ABC Science Unit. ABC Radio National and BBC World Service co-production.

Producers: Jane Lee, Cheyne Anderson
Senior Producer: Carl Smith
Executive Producer: Joel Werner
Sound Design: Tim Jenkins

Photo: Patient sitting on hospital bed waiting, Credit: Portra Images/Getty